SmashDimension Neptunia: Ultimate
by TheViewer-X
Summary: With the immense work set before them with the new Smash Tournament, Master Hand humbly asks the CPUs of Gamindustri to help monitor the Fighters. The goddesses agree, but with all the different characters in their land, it sets things up for what is sure to be a period of time filled with spontaneity and humorous goings on. (Rated T for Blanc vocabulary. Slice-of-life/One-shots.)
1. Stage 1 - Part 1: The Request

**Stage One - Part One: Start!**

In the frigid land of Lowee, all was quiet and serene, such as the nature of things when muffled by the snow. However, from within the home of the nation's CPU, Blanc, there was an unusual lack of ruckus caused by the CPU-Candidates, Rom and Ram. The two were simply enjoying themselves, playing games around the Basilicom. All was at peace, the two of them not even bothering Blanc or their Oracle, Mina.

But then, it all came to a stop, when an almighty scream shook the building to its very foundations! "YOU WANT ME TO WHAT!? WHAT!?"

The twins came to a grinding halt in everything they were doing as they heard their older sister scream at the top of her lungs! The both of them were not the least bit worried by Blanc's temper, as they knew she would never stoop to attacking them, even when she was angry at them specifically. Henceforth, they could not resist the curiosity of seeing what had her panties in a twist this time.

The both of them snuck up to Blanc's office door and peeked inside, wondering what she was on about. They found her in the middle of a video call on her computer, the screen facing away from them so they could not see who it was. "_I'm sorry to bother you with this Blanc,_" a deep voice said. "_But we really have no other choice._"

"But why me!?" Blanc said angrily. "Why now!? Don't you have any idea how much utter bullshit I have to deal with right now!? It's the CPU Shift Period again, so like I have the time to bother helping keep track of whatever douchebags you drudged up this time!"

"_Now now, Lady Blanc,_" the voice said. "_That temper of yours needs to seriously be kept in check. That sort of behavior is very unbecoming of a goddess._" "Bite my ass!" Blanc said.

"_Lady Blanc!_" the voice said again sternly.

"_Listen to me, I know this is not a good time for you, but that is precisely the reason why we chose to ask for your aid. We figure that this can be a mutually beneficial situation for the both of us. Not only will a load of trouble be taken off of our backs, but you can also get some positive publicity for hosting this tournament._"

Blanc gave an exasperated sigh. "I get what you're saying," she said. "I really do. However, I still can't deal with that pressure right now! I just can't!"

"Big sis!" Rom and Ram cheered, the both of them running inside the office!

"Rom! Ram! What the hell do you two think you're doing!?" Blanc said.

"You're gonna host a tournament?" Ram asked. "That sounds like so much fun!" "You have to do it!" Rom agreed.

"No I don't!" Blanc said.

"_Is that the twins? Let me see!_" the voice over the computer said. Blanc sighed again, twisting the monitor around to face them. On the screen was nothing but a moving, white glove that seemed to react to the twins.

"_Rom! Ram! It's me! Uncle Master Hand!_" the glove said.

"Uncle Master Hand!" the twins cheered.

"It's so good to see you!" Rom cheered.

"You're gonna come over, right!?" Ram added. "This means we're gonna see you, right!? We can get presents, right!?"

"_Oh of course!_" Master Hand replied. "_And tell me, would you like to see Uncle Mario, Uncle Sonic, and all your other friends from the other worlds, too?_"

"Of course!" the twins agreed.

"It's been too stinking long!" Ram said. "I wanna see them again! Especially Auntie Palutena! Last time she was here, she made the kitchen a whole mess and Blanc went totally crazy!"

"_Yes, yes,_" Master Hand said. "_But you see, Blanc and I are having a talk about the next Super Smash Bros. Tournament, and I was hoping that she could oversee it. For you see, Mr. Sakurai and I are in a lot of trouble recently given all the things we're doing for this tournament."_

_"We want it to be better than ever, you understand that, right? We want this one to not only be better than the last, but to be 'Ultimate.' So, we were hoping that your older sister could give us a hand by keeping an eye on all the Fighters, as well as those additional characters, to make sure everything goes well whilst Mr. Sakurai and I take care of all the finer details behind the scenes._"

"_So,_" Master Hand said, "_would you like for the next Smash Tournament to be hosted in Gamindustri_?"

The twins gasped in shock! "Yes!" they both cheered. "No!" Blanc said, grasping her head in her hands!

"Please Blanc! Please, please, please!" the twins said.

"We need the tournament here!" Ram said. "We need all of our friends again!"

"Please Blanc?" Rom added. "I've missed so many of them like Aunt Zelda, Uncle Donkey Kong, or Uncle Fox!"

Blanc was hopeless. She wished that she could finish this conversation with Master Hand so she could get back to work on disproving all these false rumors and scandals that have been cropping up about her recently with the Shift Period. Tell him in no uncertain terms that there would be no way she could even attend the tournament this year, let alone host it! But now she knew that there would be no way in tap dancing around this now that the twins were desperate for her to host. She had pretty much no choice.

She lifted her head up to see the twins both giving her massive puppy dog eyes, as she gave a firm look to the glove behind the monitor. "I want a few conditions," she said, the twins already looking giddy with excitement now that she was starting to cave, but wisely chose not to say a word!

"Firstly," Blanc said, "I'm not doing this alone. If I'm in this, I expect all the other CPUs to put in their fair share too."

"_That is fine with me,_" Master Hand replied. "_In fact, I was hoping that the four of you could work together in this endeavor. The more hands on deck, the more to oversee the different Fighters, and the less that I and Mr. Sakurai have to worry about._"

"Okay, good," Blanc replied. "Although, I wouldn't expect anything. I just wanted to make sure they could help, but I don't know if they will or not."

"Secondly, I want to meet on this in person. I want to go over every detail that I will have to do in order to cover this. And the others if they agree."

"_Fine by me,_" Master Hand said again. "_I'll send an invitation you can use to warp over here when you're ready. Thank you again, Lady Blanc, for at least considering this._"

The screen went dark as Master Hand cut the line, Blanc taking a breath as she leaned back in her chair. She turned in her seat and saw Rom and Ram still staring at her. "You two..." she said slowly. Suddenly her eyes were overshadowed as her left eye turned bright red and her teeth turned razor sharp! "Do you have any idea what bullshit you just pulled me into?! Your asses are fried!"

The twins giggled happily as they proceeded to run away from their angry elder sister!

* * *

"Hmm..." the CPU of Planeptune said thoughtfully.

"Huh? What's up, sis?" Nepgear asked.

"I sense a disturbance in the code," Neptune replied. "It's almost as if somebody is getting into shenanigans without me."

Nepgear merely looked at her older sister thoughtfully, as Neptune's eyes remained locked on her screen while she continued playing the game she had been enjoying. "Oh well," Neptune said. "Probably nothing important... I think."

Her younger sister looked nervously at her, sliding over on her knees next to the beanbag chair that Neptune was sitting on. "Uh... Neptune," Nepgear said, "that doesn't really sound reassuring."

"Do you know who you're talking to?" Neptune replied. "I'm pretty much a master at this kinda thing. It's only gonna be a matter of time before something comes barging down our door to pull us into the plot and get this ball a-rollin'."

Just then, the front door was blasted off its hinges with the force of a raging bull! "Case in point," Neptune replied, as a very angered looking Blanc walked into the room.

"Uh... h-hi, Blanc," Nepgear greeted nervously.

"Hey there Blanny," Neptune added. "Wanna play some Super Nepu Kart on my 32-DS? I just got the premium DLC that allows you to play as- gah!"

Neptune found herself grabbed by the neck and lifted into the air as Blanc stared down hard at her with one red eye that was so filled with vile contempt it was practically on fire! "When... The hell... do you answer... _**YOUR FUCKING PHONE**_!?"

Neptune gulped nervously. "G-guessing you were trying to talk to me about something important, huh?" she said, before adding, "Oh mother-Nep."

"B-B-B-Blanc!" Nepgear said hastily, arms waving about frantically. "There's n-no need to get violent! I-I'm sure that if Neptune knew you were trying to get in touch with her she would be more than happy to listen and would have replied straight away!"

Blanc remained perfectly still for a moment, before releasing the CPU of Planeptune, who promptly began gasping for air. "I'm in no mood for any bullshit," Blanc said, "so let me just get this over with. I've just been roped into something that I want no part in, and you're all coming down with me. Got it?"

"What?" Neptune said, standing tall despite the force of pure anger she was facing down. "There ain't no way I'm just gonna let you march in here and give me orders without a proper explanation. So you best explain yourself, sister!" Neptune punctuated by snapping her fingers in the air dramatically.

Nepgear was not so bold, however, as she promptly began prostrating at Blanc's feet! "P-p-please Lady Blanc," she said. "Forgive my sister! She meant no disrespect!"

"No sirree," Neptune said. "I'm just returning the favor! Don't forget missy, you're in my house! And you will show me respect if you're gonna want any favors!"

Blanc continued staring at Neptune for a moment, before she finally appeared to regain her composure. "Sorry..." she said slowly. "I just... I've been in a really bad mood all morning. I need a good book and some tea."

"It's okay, no problem," Neptune said, waving off the comment, as Nepgear returned to her feet, but still slumped over in exhaustion. "So," Neptune said, "what exactly did you come here for?"

"You recall Master Hand?" Blanc asked.

"Master Hand?" Neptune echoed, laying her head thoughtfully in her hand. "Yeah, I think I remember him from way back. He still calls you up every now and then?"

"Yeah, that'd be the one," Blanc replied. "He got in touch with me earlier asking if I could help host the latest Super Smash Bros. Tournament. Just keeping an eye on all the Fighters and their friends or family that come to watch. Nothing that major. It's simply to take the load off of him and Mr. Sakurai."

"Oh really?" Neptune asked. "That sounds cool!"

"It sounds fucking stressful, that's what it sounds like!" Blanc countered. "And of course that stupid ass glove had to taunt my sisters with the idea that they'd get to see Mario, Sonic, and all of the others again, making it impossible for me to say 'no'! It pisses me off!"

"So I have to do it. And I promised... no, I-I was hoping that you could help. You, Vert, Noire, all of you."

"Oh, of course!" Neptune said. "I'd be happy to help out! And I'm sure Nep Jr. will be happy to lend a hand, won't you Jr.?"

"Oh, the Smash Tournament," Nepgear said wistfully. "Yes! I would be happy to help! And I'm sure your little sisters will want to do whatever they can too, right? And with Uni helping out, you'll have the full support of all CPU Candidates!"

"And I'll even call up Iffy and Compa to help too," Neptune said. "And if we can get Uzume and Plutie over here, we'll have more than enough to handle however many Fighters they're throwing over this time! So, how many are there now? They up to thirty or something?"

"Or something," Blanc replied. She walked over and whispered in Neptune's ear, causing the purple haired girl's eyes to bug out comically!

"Holy crap," she said.

"Be that as it may," Blanc said. "Thank you for your help. Truly. This is a load off of my mind."

"Don't you worry," Neptune said, giving a thumbs up. "Whatever we can do. Besides, this may be kinda fun. So, did you get in touch with the others already?"

"Yeah," Blanc replied. "I called them. Which is what caused me to come over here, remember? You not answering your damn phone?"

"Oh yeah," Neptune laughed. "Well, how long do we got until the Fighters get here?"

"Not so fast," Blanc replied. "I still wanted to talk one more time with Master Hand just to know exactly what I'm getting myself into. Come with me to Lowee and I'll get that last talk with him to know where, what, how, why, and when."

"You gotcha," Neptune replied. "Jr. hold down the fort for me while I'm gone!"

"Oh, okay!" Nepgear said. "See you later sis!"

* * *

Before long, both CPUs in their HDD forms touched down in Lowee, just outside of Blanc's home, with Noire and Vert standing right outside waiting for them.

"You took your sweet time," Noire said.

"Sorry Nowa-chan," Purple Heart said teasingly. "But I was a little distracted by playing my game to get that new upgrade. Something that some people here can relate to," she said, flashing a wink at the CPU of Lastation.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about!" Noire said, turning her head aside with a blush on her face.

Vert gave a good natured laugh. "I know she's lying," she said. "I recognized her gamer tag last night."

"If you're all done," Blanc said. "We can finally get this over with."

"Sheesh," Neptune said, turning back to normal, "you're back to being moody, huh?"

"She's not one to simply roll with surprises," Vert replied. "She prefers structure and planned out circumstances. Something completely out of left field like this is not something she can react to properly. So she just ends up pouting."

"I'm not pouting!" Blanc snapped.

"Ah," Neptune said, "I understand."

"Don't understand it, you asshat!" Blanc said. She ground her teeth as she pulled an envelope out of her jacket. The envelope was decorated with a red seal that looked like a ball split in fourths.

"So you're gonna use that thing?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah," Blanc replied. "These envelopes have a pretty good trick in them."

She looked up at the sky, holding the envelope in the air above her. "Okay Master Hand," she said, "we're all here. Can we please discuss what you want us to do, exactly?"

In a flash, the four of them were all warped out of the office, and arrived on a platform in the middle of a bright, seemingly endless sky! In the air, hovering above them, was none other than Master Hand him... _it-_self.

"_Hello and greetings CPUs of Gamindustri!_" Master Hand said proudly. "_Lovely to see you all agai-! Wait a moment. One... two... three... oh, terribly sorry, but I appear to have missed Lady Neptune!_"

"Nepupu!" a voice in the sky yelled. "Move-move-move-move-move-move-move!"

Everyone looked up in time to see a purple blur careening right for Noire! "Oh not agai-!" Noire had just enough time to say, before she was flattened by the airborne Neptune, creating a billow of dust in the platform! "_Ah_," Master Hand said. "_There she is. Well now with that settled, we can now get to work, yes_?"

"That would be preferable," Blanc said.

"Not phased by much, is he?" Vert said.

Noire and Neptune recovered soon enough, with Master Hand going through the directions he wishes for the CPUs to cover for the next Super Smash Bros. event. "_You see,_" he began, "_as I already told Lady Blanc, Mr. Sakurai and myself are severely overtaxed with this tournament. Moreso than any other we'd ever seen before._"

"_There is so much to do with this game compared to the rest. Not only are we bringing back every Fighter from a previous game, as well as most of the past Stages, in addition to, of course, creating new ones, but we are also going to be working on more mechanics and game modes than ever before, a metric ton of music, and a new adventure mode, just to name a few! Suffice is to say, we are in a heap of trouble_!"

"Yeah, life's rough all around," Blanc said. "Cut to the part where we should give a damn!"

"Blanc!" Vert said. "You are typically very uncouth, but this is much, even for you."

"Who's uncouth!?" Blanc snapped.

"_Quite,_" Master Hand said, unfazed as usual. "_You see, Mr. Sakurai and I were hoping that we could have you CPUs do us a favor, simply by monitoring the Fighters of this tournament, in addition to those extra characters that will appear. Simply ensure that they are comfortable, don't cause any trouble, and head to their respective Stages when the time arises. Also, monitoring the stages too would be a big help. At the very least, we were hoping that Lady Blanc could do so given her past relationship with Mr. Sakurai and myself, but if the four of you could add your support it would be greatly appreciated._"

"_Like I had told her earlier, we hoped this would be a mutually beneficial circumstance for all of us. Not only would this take a significant load off of Mr. Sakurai and myself, but it could also help your images as well during this terrible CPU Shift Period that you are going through currently. So, what do you say? I understand if you'll need more time, but I hope you shall at least consider it._"

The CPUs all looked to one another. It did sound like something that could do wonders for their image nowadays. And it didn't sound like it would be _too _terribly complicated.

"You mentioned something earlier," Blanc said. "Something about having the Fighters and all the rest staying in Gamindustri."

"_Ah yes,_" Master Hand said. "_We were hoping you could offer them housing in Gamindustri during this time as a... a bit more ease on myself and Sakurai so as not to _create _any new housing for them during this time when we are already distracted with other work that must be done sooner rather than later. But I understand if that's something you can't handle._"

"No, it's fine," Blanc said. Her composure seemed to have completely fallen back into place now with all this information given to her. "I think... I lost my cool earlier. But I'm fine now. If you want my help, I'll be more than happy to give it. What do you all say?"

"I'm game!" Neptune said. "This will be so much fun!"

"I concur," Vert said. "I think that it is an excellent idea."

"I suppose..." Noire said. "I mean, getting to know all these other Figthers might be... a-a little fun."

"Then it's decided," Blanc said. "We would be happy to host the next Smash event in Gamindustri."

"_Thank you four! Thank you very much_!" Master Hand said. "_I promise you, you won't regret it_!"

* * *

**_A/N: Thank you for checking out SmashDimension! This was a brain child that I had created and wanted to execute for some time, by bringing the Fighters of Super Smash Bros. to the world of Hyperdimension Neptunia._**

**_So I'll level with you, I really want Neptune in Smash. While some might argue Blanc would make sense given how she is literally the goddess of all of Nintendo while Neptune herself represents Sega. But if you really think about it, Neptune is the main character of the series (as she will proudly say so herself), and Smash always starts with the main character or mascot of a series or a specific title in that franchise before moving on to different characters. Ergo; if Hyperdimension Neptunia gets representation in Smash, it would (or at least should) stand to reason that Neptune would be the character they use._**

**_With that in mind, I genuinely believe Neptune _could _get into Smash, especially with recent events around the series in mind, and it would make me so incredibly happy to have her in there. No joke, I've never wanted a character to become a Fighter in Smash more than Neptune. _****_But that being said, this story was made just for fun based on an idea I had one day. Henceforth, we have SmashDimension (because original names are original)._**

**_Need to know about this series, it's just going to be a series of one-shots. These first few "stages" are simply going to act as the foundation for, as Blanc said, who/where/why/how. The following "stages" will mostly just be circumstances revolving around the CPUs and friends going about their daily lives while managing the Smash Tournament and dealing with the different Fighters and friends from Smash._**

**_So many ideas have come from this concept, so I do hope _****_you do enjoy as we move forward with this story, and let me know your thoughts!_**

**_Until next time, have a wonderful evening, and I'll see you in the next stage!_**


	2. Stage 1 - Part 2: The Arrival

**Stage One - Part Two: Start!**

Skyworld:

"Hmm..." Palutena, Goddess of Light and ruler of Skyworld mused to herself, with a proud smile adorned on her features. "It looks like my little girls are gonna be hosting the next Tournament. How fun!"

A cry from her faithful servant and companion, Pit, could be heard from outside. Palutena carefully poked her head over to the window to see Pit trying desperately to wrangle the Rathalos wyvern that Sakurai had asked for them to procure from the world of Monster Hunter to act as an Assist Trophy and a Boss for the Tournament in question. Not far away, Dark Pit was peppering the creature with stun blasts from his staff in a vain attempt to get the creature to stay on the ground.

Palutena laughed to herself as she watched them work, walking over to the exit with her own staff twirled around in her fingers. As she exited, a divine light shone from the sky that hit the Rathalos square in the head, causing it to fall asleep and Pit to roll off its head! Dark Pit stabbed his staff in the ground in frustration before his eyes fell upon the goddess.

"Why in the hell," he said, "would you force us to catch this thing when you could've just done that the entire time, woman!?"

"Because," Palutena replied, "I found watching you two working to be funny. Now boys, I have just received news that I'm sure both of you will find interesting. It's been announced that the next Bash Sisters Tournament is gonna be held in Gamindustri!"

"Smash Brothers," Pit corrected. "And wow, really?"

"Where is that?" Dark Pit asked. "I've never heard of that place before."

"I think I have," Pit replied. "You've mentioned Gamindustri before haven't you, Lady Palutena?"

"That's right," Palutena replied. "I've had a vested interest in specifically the Hyper Dimension version of Gamindustri for some time, looking at the updates on the goddesses, or 'CPUs' as they're referred to. I recall being around when the original four CPUs were just babies! Oh, they were so cute!"

"The way that little MS would torment Uno by tugging on her hair, how tiny Fami would just hide in corners with her pictures books, and Chi would try sitting with me at the table while I was enjoying tea with Cosmos, Amaterasu, or Jubileus. Oh~ Those were the days!"

"Wait a moment," Dark Pit said. "You mean to tell me this 'Hyper Dimension' has had multiple CPUs?"

"Yes," Palutena replied. "Whenever a prior CPU is destroyed they get overseen by a new CPU."

"Huh," Dark Pit said. "Must not be very powerful 'goddesses' in that case."

"Like you have any room to talk," Palutena said, "when your allegedly 'inferior copy' has defeated numerous gods or goddesses in the past, including Hades."

Dark Pit's face flushed in annoyance as Pit himself smiled proudly. "So," Pit said, "who are these new CPUs like, Lady Palutena?"

"Well," Palutena said, "while they may be the latest versions they're not exactly 'new'. They've been around for quite awhile. And they're all fantastic."

"They may not come off as typical 'goddesses' on a surface level, but they are a lot of fun to be around. I'm sure you'll get along with them just fine, Pit. In fact, one of them has a little sister that I'm sure you'll be great friends with!"

"Really?" Pit asked. "I get to be a friend with a goddess? Well, what's she like? Why do you think we'll be friends?"

"Well," Palutena said, "you're both sickeningly naive, completely easy to manipulate, and resident Butt Monkeys of your franchises, just for one thing."

Pit crumpled to the ground as Dark Pit guffawed! "T-that's not one thing," Pit said, on his hands and knees in defeat.

* * *

Mushroom Kingdom:

Far, far from Skyworld, in the bright and colorful Mushroom Kingdom, a portly plumber by the name of Mario was bustling to and from his home to the hat shaped airship sitting in his lawn known affectionately as "the Odyssey". For the past two Tourneys, Mario and whomever he brought from the Kingdom traveled in the Starship Mario to the Smash Bros. Tournament in question. But now with the Odyssey at his disposal, Mario could officially pass the Starship Mario on to Rosalina and not have to "borrow" it any longer.

Watching the Italian plumber rushing to and fro were the number of friends and companions Mario met on his journeys. These included uniquely blue and yellow colored Toads that had worked with the Mario Bros. in the past. Most of the time, Toads didn't truthfully have names, but since they'd proven themselves exceptionally brave in helping the brothers in the past, they'd earned at least the affectionate nicknames "Bucken Berry" (blue) and "Ala-Gold" (yellow).

Among them was a cloud-like figure named Mallow and a walking, talking puppet named Geno. These two had worked with Mario during the incident with the Smithy Gang, where Mario met Mallow being raised by frogs and Geno had truly been a toy before he was brought to life by a spirit. They tended to keep to themselves these days, but Mario always knew that he could trust them to keep an eye on things when he needed them.

Then there was Professor E. Gadd, a scientist who was good friends with Mario's brother Luigi, specifically. He had helped Luigi after the green clad plumber had allegedly won a mansion, where Mario had gotten captured by Boos and Luigi was left to use the professor's technology to catch them and free Mario. Ever since, E. Gadd had been a great help to the brothers, particularly when Luigi (unfortunately) needed to beat more ghosts.

Finally, the Mario Bros. plus Captain Toad had finished loading up the Odyssey with everything short of the kitchen sink! Mario removed his hat to wipe his brow, as Luigi up and passed out on the ground beside him! "I think that's-a everything," Mario said calmly.

"Oh thank my Star Spirits!" Captain Toad said. "Any more of that and I would've collapsed harder than I did in my last battle with Wingo."

"Oh, come now Captain," Ala-Gold said. "I would've thought carrying that pack all the time, you would be used to lugging heavy things!"

"That's on my back, not in my arms!" Captain Toad replied.

"That'll do, that'll do," E. Gadd laughed. "All the same, I trust you boys are good to go?"

"Yes sir," Mario replied. "We just need to wait-a for the Princesses."

"Gosh," Mallow said fondly. "It's great to see you in another Tournament, Mario. Getting to see you representing all of us is great. But I do kinda wish I could fight too. What do you think, Geno?"

"Not me," Geno replied. "I'm not one for fighting for sport. But I will admit, I regret not being there for that Subspace incident."

"Yeah! That was nuts!" Bucken Berry said.

"Yes it was," Mario said. "I don't think I've ever seen anything as strong or purely evil as Tabuu. But it all turned out well in the end, and we got some new friends like Pit and Snake out of it. It even helped me to bond better with Sonic."

"That's right," Ala-Gold said. "You two weren't as close back then before the Subspace thing."

After a few more minutes, the Princesses Peach and Daisy arrived along with the Toad elder, Toadsworth, and the lovable dino, Yoshi. "Luigi-kins!" Daisy cheered. The younger Mario Bro. sat up just in time for Daisy to tackle him with a hug around the neck, lifting him into the air and choking the life out of him! Mario and Peach could only chuckle at the sight.

"She's always so smitten around him," Peach said.

"Yes," Toadsworth said. "He does bring out her energy. Energy that always gives me a migraine."

"Oh Toadsworth," Peach said. "You know she means well!"

"Yes. Too well," Toadsworth said.

Mario shook his head. Daisy was a recent addition to the Smash Tournaments, so she was obviously excited to get a chance to stick around with Luigi this time around instead of having to watch him from the Kingdom. But now that she was going to fight, so she could get to stay close. Mario turned to look at his other friends, tipping his hat to them.

"I trust you to keep an eye on everything while we're-a gone," he said. "Even if Bowser might be the biggest problem, I think-a we can all agree there's-a lot more out there save for him."

"Don't worry Mario," Geno said. "We'll handle things here. Rest easy knowing that the Kingdom is in our hands."

"I will," Mario replied. He turned to the green dinosaur, patting his nose. "Ready to go, Yoshi?" "Yoshi!" the dino replied happily.

Mario turned back around and shook Captain Toad's hand. "Well Captain," he said, "see you in Gamindustri."

"See you there, Mario!" Captain Toad said.

Mario gave one last wave to his friends from home, before boarding the Odyssey and preparing to head to familiar territory. Mario knew Gamindustri very well, or specifically the nation called Lowee. He was very close with the CPU Blanc, acting as an uncle of sorts for her little sisters, Rom and Ram.

He had to admit, he was pleasantly surprised to hear from Mr. Sakurai and Master Hand that the new Tournament would be held in Gamindustri, so this gave Mario a chance to properly show the likes of Daisy or Yoshi around the nations. Not only that, but it would give him a chance to see the twins again, which was always a good time. A smile on his face, Mario flew the Odyssey to one of its longest journeys ahead.

* * *

Hyrule:

Like Mario, Link was having a similar situation in finding those that he trusted to defend his home in his absence, only far more complicated. being that there were many Hyrules and many lives in his head, his trust in those he left behind was highly varies. In his most recent life, he had Daruk, Mipha, Revali, and Urbosa, whom he still trusted in no uncertain terms for this mission.

"Feeling alright, boss?" he heard an impish voice on his shoulder. And then there was Midna. He remembered her, and yet he did not. Again, complicated.

"I'm fine Midna," Link replied. "Just thinking."

"Hm... that's dangerous," Midna said. "My Link thought, yes, though it was never a good thing. Though he would reply more with a snide comment if I bothered him."

"Well... that's not how I was brought up," Link replied.

"Clearly," Midna said. "And let me tell you, it makes you a lot more boring!"

Link merely chuckled. "Any particular reason why you're bugging me, or were you just bored?"

"That's more like it," Midna said. "I just came to tell you that her ladyship finished up in her castle. Man-der woman and that lady friend of yours from the island will keep things safe here while you're gone. Along with your other companions I haven't bothered meeting yet."

"Good," Link said. "And before the opening ceremony is over, I want you to behave yourself with _Impa _and _Marin_. You hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah," Midna said. "Quit ruining the fun and beat it, already."

Link smirked. Even if he didn't remember her entirely, the impressions he got were enough for him to honestly smile at her behavior and make him say, "I'll miss you too," in response to her words.

Midna vanished in the shadows as Link made his way to the front gate. Sure enough, as Midna had said, Zelda came out along with Impa and Marin. But it wasn't the Zelda that _this _Link knew.

This Zelda was more youthful and full of life than the Zelda that he knew personally, probably closer to something like fourteen to fifteen years old while _his _Zelda was seventeen. He could see on the surface alone that this Zelda hadn't gone through the same training and forceful teachings that _his _Zelda had experienced all her life. She didn't even know what he had meant when he first asked her about the Calamity.

On the surface, that was something Link was happy to hear. That she and her people hadn't lived through the same constant fear of the Calamity's return that he and his friends had gone through. But simultaneously, it wedged a divide between them that he didn't know would ever lift.

He knew from accounts of the other Fighters that this was the first time something like this had ever happened. In previous Tournaments, it was always the respective Links, Zeldas, and even Ganondorfs that were brought to the same Tournament. But this was the first time the Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf were all unrelated. And in Link's case, at least for the Ganondorf, that was just fine.

All the same, he couldn't help but smile as he saw her give Impa a loving farewell, even if they didn't know each other at their proper times and places. Similarly, Marin ran over to hug Link farewell as she left the castle. Link fondly recalled the memories that he had with Marin in another life, after washing up on Koholint Island, that fateful day.

The two fancied each other, but they never developed that relationship in that life. Link at the time couldn't be tied down. Not even by his Zelda in that life.

Still, it was clear that Marin still cared about Link in any life and was willing to guard Hyrule in their absence. "Good luck you," she said fondly, as if she were talking to her Link. "Come back to me this time, alright?"

"I will," Link said. "I promise." He minced his words, trying to keep his relationship from getting as awkward as he felt it was already, recalling odd feelings from another life that he didn't quite understand.

Zelda skipped over, tilting her head at him with her hands tucked behind her back. "You ready to go?" she asked.

"Yes," Link nodded simply. He didn't exactly know what to say to her, thinking it wasn't good to ask her if she had the same memories of her other lives that Link had with his own. All the same, even if she did, he knew he couldn't just treat her as _his _Zelda, as every look at her was enough to remind him that she wasn't.

"Wait a moment, where is-?"

"Looking for someone?" a deep voice said, before Sheik dropped over from the balcony, landing silently beside the two others. "I've been ready."

"Sorry to make you wait," Link said.

"You didn't," Sheik replied. "I just tend to be prepared."

Link gave a smirk, still finding this Sheik character to be the slightest bit off-putting. He waved off the others as he walked away with Zelda alongside him. Once he got to this Tournament, then he would be able to relax a bit more without the memories of all these other lives intruding on him. That is, until he inevitably caught sight of Ganondorf.

* * *

Nowhere Islands:

Lucas couldn't help but twiddle his thumbs awkwardly. He was still fearful of the prospects of leaving home again. He didn't really _want _to enter the Smash Tournaments, he only happened across the incident going on with Subspace. It was the Pokemon Trainer and Ness that had trusted him after they joined up during the battle against the Subspace Army and told the likes of Mr. Sakurai and Master Hand that he would make a great Fighter.

Lucas had wanted to turn down the offer to join officially, but it was Kumatora that had pressured him into joining! Even Boney had encouraged him to go in his own way. And sure enough, it was them yet again that had pressured him into going this time around!

Still, if there was one thing that Lucas had loved the most about going to these Tournaments, it was the friends he'd made. Ness was a good example, having many of the same PSI abilities that Lucas had, and the Pokemon Trainer was another example, acting like something of an older brother to Lucas whenever they were around, but there were more still. Pit, Kirby, the Villager, even the Mario Bros.

Before long, Lucas was pulled from his thoughts as the Phase Distorter appeared in front of him and touched down! Ness came out, adjusting his hat as he saw Lucas standing with Kuamtora and Boney. "Hey there!" Ness said happily. "Ready to go?"

"He sure is!" Kumatora said, pushing Lucas forward!

"Kumatora!" Ness said happily. "Good to see you, as always!"

"Good to see you too," Kumatora greeted. She looked at her companion, hugging him tight. "You'll do great out there Lucas," she said. "I know you will. And just remember, as soon as the opening ceremony is done, we'll be right behind you! You'll see us again soon!"

Lucas nodded into her shoulder. He was short of words at this moment. He knelt down to Boney and pet his head, the dog bumping up to his knee, before the blonde boy went over to the Phase Distorter and gave one last wave, before going inside.

* * *

Planet Popstar:

Kirby was a being of few words, but that didn't keep him from having great friends! That is why he was certainly not short of those ready to protect Dreamland in his absence. Ribbon was a fairy that had a strong connection with the young Star Warrior, being a great friend he first met during that Crystal Shards incident. She and Adeleine, the young artist that had come to Popstar during that time, were best friends that stayed around Kirby and kept him in line.

At the moment, the artist was more distracted by the Animal Friends that Kirby also trusted to keep an eye on things, painting a picture of them as Ribbon left herself to see Kirby off. Ribbon was also a bit saddened to see that Susie and Taranza were not present, but she supposed that was because the two of them were trying to figure out themselves upon turning from bad to good.

"Good luck Kirby," Ribbon said, as the Star Warrior summoned the Warp Star. "I promise you, I will do everything to make sure your home is safe while you're gone."

Kirby merely waved happily to Ribbon, making his happy sounds as he hopped onto the Warp Star. Being little more than a baby, it was hard to say exactly if he even knew what was going on around him, but it was clear that he was happy to have his friends around. Ribbon merely just waved happily to him, as Kirby flew up and away on the Warp Star!

* * *

Central City:

Sonic the Hedgehog let loose a massive yawn as he lay reclined on the wings of the Tornado. He had his eyes shut tight, waiting patiently for Tails to arrive so they may shove off for the next Smash Tournament. A major request that Sonic had asked for when Master Hand and Sakurai had asked him to go to the next Tournament after he helped in the final fight of that Subspace incident, was that Sonic be accompanied by his best friend, even if Tails wasn't a fighter.

"Okay!" Tails said, slamming a panel on the Tornado shut. "We're ready to go!"

"Ugh! Finally!" Sonic said, pouncing to his feet. He landed beside Tails, as the two shook hands. "We're all set then, eh?"

"You bet!" Tails said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at this next Tournament! Especially since it's in this new, Gamindustri place."

"Oh yeah," Sonic said. "Sakurai really buttered you up in that invitation with the way he described some of those cities, eh?"

"Of course!" Tails said. "I'm always looking forward to testing out new technology whenever these Tournaments arrive."

"Well let's not waste anymore time then," Sonic said.

"It's all done?" the voice of Knuckles the Echidna called. He and Amy ran over from nearby, Sonic hastily dodging one of Amy's attempts to hug him!

"You better not lose out there, you hear me?" Knuckles said, as Sonic stopped beside him. "If you lose a fight to anybody else but me, I'm gonna need to step up my game."

"Huh, funny," Sonic said, shaking hands with him. "That's about the same thing that Shadow said to me. Just don't lose that Master Emerald anymore and we'll have a deal."

"Sonic!" Amy said, jumping back over to him. Sonic expertly avoided her again, looking at her smugly as she failed to hug him once more.

"Don't you worry Amy," Sonic said. "I'll come back in one piece. This ain't my first rodeo."

Amy stood firmly in place, pouting as Sonic stood in front of her. Sonic let out a breath as he walked forward and hugged her gently, causing her to exclaim in delight!

"Alright," Sonic said, letting her go, "let's head off, buddy!" he said to Tails.

"Really? You're ready to go now?" Tails asked. "But, don't you want to say goodbye to anybody?"

"Already did, bud," Sonic said with a wink. "Remember? Fastest thing alive? I ran all over to say 'bye' to Cream and her mom, the Chaotix, Silver, even the stick-in-the-mud himself, Shadow and his team. I even made a hop skip and a jump over to the Sol Dimension to say 'bye' to Blaze and Marine."

Tails smirked at his best friend and brother-figure. "You never cease to amaze me," he said.

"I aim to please," Sonic said, giving one last wave to his friendly rival and number one fan, as the Tornado lifted into the air and took them away.

* * *

Altea:

The legend that is known as the Hero King found himself doing the only thing he could think of doing at this moment: He was training himself, stabbing back and forth with the blade, Falchion, as he waited patiently for his allies to assemble so they might disembark on their quest. He had to admit, he was pressured beyond belief with the number of heroes that came to these Tournaments from his world spread out across time, and how many of them looked up to him as a legend.

Things only became more complicated with his long-distant descendant Lucina being added to the fray. Despite being generations apart, and Lucina being no younger than he was, Marth did find a strong sense of familial responsibility for her as they met. He often found himself dotting over her at a few occasions, ensuring she stay as far away as possible from the likes of Bowser or Ganondorf, and keeping track of her whenever she spent time with the likes of Shulk, Pit, or Link as if he were her father fearing how she interacted with boys her own age.

But now that her real father, Chrom, was to be a new warrior in the Tournament, that might be a responsibility he'll have to leave behind. His training and musings were not interrupted, even as Ike and Roy came upon the field where he was working.

"It'll be good to fight with you again," Ike said, patting Roy on the shoulder.

"The feeling is mutual," Roy said. "I will gladly test my metal against you again, Radiant Hero." Ike could only smirk at the prospects.

Truth be told, Roy had something of a rivalry with Ike. Each time they had fought, Ike had always found himself able to best Roy in combat. So, Roy had made it a personal goal to surpass Ike at one point in the future. Neither of them were bold enough to claim Marth as a rival.

The two heroes saw Marth continuing to train, both of them looking fondly at his work. "Well," Ike siad, "I didn't think that I'd find him working any other way."

As Roy and Ike had gained something of a rivalry, Ike had grown something of a powerful friendship with Marth from their repeated training in the Tournaments. It had only grown especially firm after the Subspace Army incident. On the other side of the field, the exact individuals that Marth had been thinking of began to approach.

Lucina was talking animatedly with her father as Robin walked along beside them. "I'm just saying father," Lucina said to Chrom, "that I think it'd be best if you remained with mother during these Tournaments and leave the fighting to us."

"I let you keep me on the sidelines once, Lucina," Chrom said, "I'm determined not to let it happen again. Honestly, do you know how much flack I got from having my future daughter and strategist fight in the last Tournament, and not go myself?" He rubbed his brow. "I can still hear your mother laughing."

Lucina smirked. "You know she meant well," she said. "She was only pulling your chain."

"Remind you of anybody, Robin?" Lucina asked. Beside her, the strategist clapped his book shut. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said.

Just ahead of them, the Princess of Nohr/Hoshido appeared and ran up beside them! "Hi! Hi!" she said. "I didn't make anybody wait, right?"

"Not at all Corrin," Lucina replied. "You're right on time."

"Good!" Corrin said. "Let's just say my families were not happy about the prospects of me leaving again. It took me every day since I got my reinvitation to convince them to let me go!"

As the others gave a good natured laugh, with Roy and Ike going to greet all the new arrivals, Marth sheathed the Falchion and let out a breath. "Okay," he said. "I guess that means it's time to go."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" a firm voice echoed. Marth felt a bead of sweat slip down his cheek as he gave an internal, "oh no," before a pegasus struck down beside him! He flinched as he heard the sound of firm feet strike the ground as the rider dismounted, turning just enough to see the beautiful, blue-haired maiden clad in red approach him.

"H-hello Caeda," he said nervously.

"Don't you 'hello Caeda' me!" Caeda replied, stepping right up to his face. "You were just going to run off without anything so much as a 'goodbye', weren't you?"

"I-I had to train myself!" Marth said. "I got distracted is all."

"Of course you did," Caeda said. "You always 'get distracted' when it comes to training!"

"Hi Caeda," Roy waved.

"Hello Roy," Caeda greeted warmly, appearing to shed all the anger she was demonstrating toward Marth a moment before. "Ike, Robin, everyone. Sorry I didn't get a chance to greet you properly before, because _somebody _had the gaul to honestly not give me a word about the leave!"

"I-I apologize Caeda, honestly," Marth said. "Please, let's not fight. Not when I'm preparing to leave."

Caeda looked down at the grass, before taking a deep breath. She felt something touch her forehead, forcing herself to look up as she saw Marth looking directly into her eyes, their heads touching. "I am sorry," he said. "But you know how I get."

"I do," Caeda said. "And it drives me nuts. But I... I can't imagine you any other way."

She threw her arms around his neck and the two embraced closely. They were totally oblivious to everyone else fondly watching the exchange go down.

"These two are never boring," Ike said, arms crossed proudly.

"You're telling me," Roy said. "If I ever even _thought _about forgetting to say goodbye to Lilina, I'd find myself banished from my home the moment the Tournament was done."

"Hey Chrom," Ike said, "keep this in mind with your lady friend, okay? Not just for when the next Tournament arrives."

Chrom gave a firm nod, Corrin eagerly nodding in agreeance beside him. As for Robin and Lucina, they shared a glance, before finding themselves unable to keep eye contact.

* * *

Battlefield:

The trip was a fairly long one for the Mario Bros. and friends, but before long, they touched down in the series of floating islands known simply as "The Battlefield". This was typically the welcoming world for Fighters of the Smash Tournaments, allowing the returning veterans a chance to meet up again, and for newcomers to familiarize themselves with one another. From there, Fighters would soon make their way over to the setup Master Hand and Sakurai had designed for the Fighters to stay. However, with the announcement that this Tournament would be operating a bit differently, Master Hand would probably be helping Fighters transport to Gamindustri afterwards.

Mario and the others got off the Odyssey and looked about at the different faces that had already arrived. This was always one of Mario's favorite parts of these Tournaments. Just being able to see and talk to all the old, or new, faces.

Promptly upon exiting, Peach broke off from the others, bringing Daisy behind her as she went to greet Rosalina. As she did, Mario kept his eyes peeled for more of the pioneering Fighters. Link, Samus, Fox, Captain Falcon, the likes of them. Being among the first, Mario always took an opportunity to reminisce with them.

"Hey Mario!" he heard an eager voice say. The plumber turned back to see the young angel, Pit, standing right behind him. Mario smiled, recalling how he first met up and worked with Pit during the battle against the Subspace Army. He was a good guy, always looking forward to meeting others.

"Hello Pit," Mario said fondly. "How're you-a doing?"

"Good," Pit replied. "I'm looking forward to this next Tournament! There are way more Fighters now than ever before! Even every past Fighter from before is here too!"

"But let me tell you, I'm ready. I'm way stronger than when we first met! So I'm ore than ready for everyone to see what I'm made of!"

Mario gave a good laugh. "I'm sure you'll make-a waves," he said. "Me? I'm-a just looking forward to meeting more new friends and-a rivals in this Tournament."

Pit's face fell. "Wow," he said. "That's a lot more considerate than I was. Now I feel bad."

"Don't-a worry Pit," Mario replied. "I'm-a sure you mean well. Believe it or not, awhile back-a when this Tournament was first getting started, I was-a just like you. Looking forward to testing-a my metal against-a other Fighters."

Suddenly, in a streak of blue, Sonic shot over to Mario's side with a cocky smile on his face. "And despite having mellowed out by the time I joined, you were pretty adamant about beating me in a fight."

Mario crossed his arms. "I have-a no idea what you're talking about," he said.

"Uh-huh," Sonic said, before looking over to Pit and offering him a two fingered salute. "Hey Pit. How goes it?"

"Oh, it goes well, Sonic," Pit said. "I've really been looking forward to this new Tournament. Hey, have you heard about who's hosting us?"

"Oh yes," Mario replied. "I have to admit, I'm-a looking forward to seeing Lady Blanc and her sisters again."

"Hm..." Sonic agreed with a nod. Even if he did help get the twins into trouble, Blanc was pretty fond of him, and the feeling was mutual. Even if he did enjoy stoking her temper every now and again whenever he got bored.

But personally, his favored goddess was Neptune. The two were thick as thieves and always got ecstatic when they saw one another. They went back for generations and Neptune was his goddess, first and foremost.

"How do you think those that haven't gone to Gamindustri are gonna react?" Sonic asked.

"Not-a sure," Mario replied. "But we'd-a better look out for the troublemakers in the group to make-a sure that they don't annoy the goddesses."

Sonic and Pit offered agreeing nods. A moment or two passed as the three merely looked at all the new Fighters. The Inkling boy and girl were racing around happily, spraying ink at a few other Fighters as a sign of affection. Incineroar was boasting to the other Pokemon in his own language. The Belmonts, Simon and Richter, were speaking to some of the other fantasy related Fighters. Pit voiced how awkward it must be for them to speak around each other, since Richter was a future descendant of Simon, not unlike how it was for Marth with Chrom and Lucina.

In addition, Ken Masters, Ryu's friend and rival, was talking about readying to fight or exercise with Little Mac and the Wii Fit Trainer. King K. Rool was laughing happily with King Dedede and Wario. Mario raised an eyebrow as he looked around. "Hang on a minute," he said. "Where's-a-"

"Wah!" Pit said, jumping in surprise as Ridley suddenly appeared behind him. "Hello there," the leader of the space pirates greeted in a sinister tone.

"Ah, Ridley," Mario said. "How's-a life as a space pirate treating you?"

"Beautifully, as always," Ridley replied.

"Yes," Mario said, his eyes narrowed at the pterodactyl-like creature. "And-a you remember what we agreed upon, yes?"

"Yes, yes," Ridley said. "No killing any more Fighters."

"Or anyone for that-a matter," Mario added.

"You don't give me orders, fat man!" Ridley replied.

"Um... I'm sorry... you said any _more_?" Pit asked nervously

"Oh yes," Sonic said. "You didn't hear? There's a reason why Rayman isn't in this Tournament."

"What!?" Pit said in terror.

"Just kidding!" Sonic said with a laugh. "Ridley's trailer featured him stabbing Mario and Mega Man. It was unscripted, so you can imagine that really freaking hurt the two of them."

"Oh man..." Pit said, feeling slightly lightheaded, not helped by Ridley delivering a disturbing smile to the angel.

Thankfully, in the next moment, Master Hand appeared overhead. "_Hello and welcome all Fighters, to the 6th Super Smash Bros. Tournament! I am Master Hand, the master of this place, as it were. It does my heart good to have not only more newcomers to this Tournament, but all returning faces as well!_"

"He has a heart in there?" Bayonetta asked, before being shushed by Samus.

"_Now, for those of you who have already heard, unfortunately we will not be establishing a new home as the humble abode for you all for this Tournament due to the many goings on keeping myself and the founder, Mr. Sakurai, from being able to create a new setting for the amount of you that stands before me now, and those that have yet to arrive. In addition, myself and Mr. Sakurai will be unable to monitor you all as often as we have in the past with the amount of work that we have to do."_

_"However, you have no reason to fear, and villains don't get ahead of yourselves, for I can assure you that the lovely goddesses that we have entrusted to keep an eye on you all will do their part to make sure that you are all suitably housed, provided any necessities you may need, and will overall just make sure that your time outside of the Smashes are ideal."_

_"So please, join me in welcoming the CPUs of Gamindustri!_"

In a flash of light, the CPUs all appeared in front of the hand in their HDD forms! "_Noire, CPU of Lastation. Blanc, CPU of Lowee. Vert, CPU of Leanbox. And Neptune, CPU of Planeptune!_" Everyone's eyes fell on the spot where Neptune should have been in the line, only to be confused when they found that she was not there.

"Wait," Pit said, "where is-?"

"Nepu! Move-move-move-move-move-move-move!" a voice yelled. Everyone looked up to see Neptune crash right into Noire... again! Noire practically threw Neptune off of her, face red with pure anger!

"Honest to goddess Neptune!" she yelled. "Would it kill you to not drop out of the sky on top of me!?"

"Hey, sorry!" Neptune replied. "I didn't have any control over that."

"_Actually, I did that on purpose,_" Master Hand said. "_I thought it would be funny._"

"Seriously!?" Noire asked angrily.

"Is he always like this?" Vert asked, returning to her normal form.

"Thankfully not," Blanc replied, turning to normal herself.

Amidst the Fighters, an obvious feeling of confusion was felt. Everyone was wondering exactly who the heck these girls were. Yet nobody had the gaul to step up and question the actions of Master Hand and Sakurai.

Mario saw the confused expressions on his allies and fellow combatants faces, however, and felt it only right to step up for them, considering he already knew the CPUs and that no offense would be taken by his questions. "Ex-a-cuse me Master Hand," he said, "but are you sure these goddesses are the right ones for the job?"

The CPUs in question all looked to him, Mario offering a simple shrug in response to their glances. Master Hand seemed to pick up on this, and replied accordingly.

"_I understand that some of you may question this decision_," he replied, "_but I can assure you that these CPUs are every bit as capable as myself or Mr. Sakurai in protecting you all and ensuring that your time in this Tournament is a good one_."

"Yeah! Every bit!" Neptune said. "All thirty-two of em'!"

Noire gave a sigh, before punching Neptune in the back of the head! "We may not look it," Noire said, "but we are goddesses through and through. We govern and protect our nations to the best of our abilities! And have been doing so for hundreds of years. I think we are capable of governing a simple Tournament."

"Simple?" Blanc asked, slightly offended.

"All the same," Vert added, tucking her arms beneath her ample chest and giving a loving smile, "we will ensure that your time here is enjoyable. We are your hosts, so as such, we want to make sure you're comfortable in your time here."

"I'm game!" Little Mac said.

"Count me in!" Ken said.

"Sounds good to me!" Richter said.

"Yes!" Captain Falcon said.

"You boys cannot be serious," Wii Fit Trainer said with a roll of her eyes, sensing why the guys were so ready to accept.

"_That all said_," Master Hand added, "_will that be the last question_?" No response came. "_Very well,_" Master Hand said. "_Then let's shape this up to be a... very interesting tournament._"

* * *

**A/N: And the Fighters have arrived! Like I mentioned in the last chapter, this is just another layer of the set-up. Last time we had the initial foundation, here we have the arrivals, and next time we'll have the settling down.**

**For this chapter, I was just able to have a lot of fun, giving shout-outs to NPCs, and a bunch of different references. Of which, I will now list off.**

**Firstly, the original CPUs of Gamindustri that Palutena references. "MS" was actually the name Neptune referenced for the original CPU of Planeptune in the events of Megadimension, whose initials more than likely stand for "Master System" as in the Sega Master System. For the others, I just thought of names that would fit the consoles in question. "Uno" for standing for "One" as in PS1. "Fami" just being short for "Famicom". And "Chi" which is the term for the Roman Numeral "X".  
**

**(And before you point it out, I know that in Victory we see Vert, Noire, and Blanc all representing those consoles in question. However, those are the Ultra Dimension versions of them, not the Hyper Dimension versions. And we know for a fact that there have been numerous CPUs of Gamindustri before the four we know and love. So there.)**

**In addition, Palutena makes reference to other goddesses from video games, including Cosmos from Final Fantasy, Amaterasu from Okami, and Jubileus from Bayonetta. I just like the idea that all the deities in video games are aware of each other and chill from time to time no matter their allegiance, since they just operate on a different level as us "wee mortals". And more than that, I like the idea of Palutena watching out for little baby versions of the CPUs, with the idea that the CPUs are a lot younger than most other deities.**

**Secondly, ****the names "Ala-Gold" and "Bucken Berry" for the yellow and blue Toads respectively, are actual names that developers have affectionately referred to the Toads in the past. So, how could I not use them here?**

**Thirdly, a headcanon idea I thought of to explain all the different Zelda characters in here is the fact that the different Zeldas, Links, and Ganons all learn about their different incarnations and operate accordingly. I dunno, it's just an idea I thought of, especially since this is the first Smash game that includes a totally unrelated versions of Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf.**

**Other than that, this whole chapter was just a chance to give shoutouts for the different NPCs in Smash and their arrival in the Smash Tournament. Some you might see again, and others perhaps not. And for those of you who want to complain that the characters are Trophies and what not given Subspace Emissary and all that... where's the fun in that?**

**Plus, in the Palutena's Guidance Easter Egg, they make reference to the Subspace incident in there as well. So it's my idea that the events can be relative.**

**Either way, thank you as always for reading! Let me know what you think. And until next time, have a wonderful evening, and take care!**


	3. Stage 1 - Part 3: Settling In

**Stage One - Part Three: Start!**

Mario couldn't help but love Rom and Ram like the children he never had. In the time he'd known Blanc, he had certainly grown fond of the young girls, telling them exploits of his adventures like his journey to the Bean Bean Kingdom with Luigi, or his time in Delfino Plaza battling Bowser Jr. He also always brought over a new game for the two for them to play, really coming into his role as their 'uncle'. At the same time, if there was one place he still needed to improve upon, it was discipline.

He just couldn't help himself. While Blanc would outright become scary whenever she got frustrated with the twins, Mario just didn't have the heart. Which is precisely why he was content to just sit back and give a laugh while Sonic found his cheeks or quills being tugged on by the girls.

"You're so soft Uncle Sonic!" Ram laughed. "Yeah!" Rom added. "Like a big teddie!"

"Well, that doesn't crush my pride or anything," Sonic uttered.

The two had settled in the Lowee Basilicom to visit Blanc and the girls before going to their rooms in Planeptune. After winning the coin toss, Neptune had ended up being the one settled with housing the Fighters in her nation, which did make sense. Not only did it give Blanc one less thing to stress over during the Tournament, but Lowee was just not hospitable for all the different Fighters with the perpetually frigid weather.

Blanc stepped out onto the balcony with a tea tray for the group, spotting the twins tormenting the blue hedgehog. "You two, let him go and piss off!" she screamed, causing Rom and Ram to squeal in delight before running away!

"Sorry about them," Blanc said, setting the tray on the table, before going over and picking Sonic up to his feet. "They really do miss you far too much for their own good."

"S'fine," Sonic replied. "They're just a bit more grabby than the kids I'm used to."

Blanc couldn't help but let out a small smile as she took her tea in hand, taking a seat at the table. "All the same," she said, "it's nice to see you both again. I feel like the last time I saw you two was when you were still bitter rivals. Only now you're both firm friends."

"Yeah," Sonic said. "Brings me back."

"I don't-a even think the twins were around during-a that time," Mario said.

"And despite the grabbing," Sonic said, "I couldn't dream of a time without them around."

"True," Blanc said, her eyes tracking over to where the twins had scampered off to, seeing them now chasing Pikachu, who had followed Mario and Sonic to the Basilicom, in the backyard. "They may be royal ass pains, but they've got charm."

"How have you been-a doing Lady Blanc?" Mario asked.

Blanc looked at him with a mildly surprised look on her face. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean-a," Mario replied, "managing the Tournament. I know you have a short-a fuse, so I'm-a just worried if this is gonna be a bit-a too much for you to handle."

Blanc looked at the table, taking a sip of her tea. "I'll admit," she said, "I was... angered by the prospects of having to manage all of this, but after talking with the other CPUs and organizing our fair share, I've... calmed some."

"Hey," Sonic said, "we may be Fighters, but don't hesitate to ask us for help if you need some backup, you hear?"

"He's-a right," Mario said. "We're friends Lady Blanc, and-a we want to support you in-a any way we can."

Blanc smiled warmly. "Thank you both," she said, "that really means a lot to me."

Sonic offered a thumbs up, before sipping on his tea, only to make a sour face at the taste. Blanc let her eyes fall upon him, as she propped an elbow on the table. "Now that I'm thinking about it, Sonic," she said, "it's been awhile since I've last seen Shadow. I believe one of the first times we met, you and he were just getting to know each other. Has he really decided to avoid coming to this Tournament as well, even if he can't compete?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Well if you must know how Ow the Edge is doing," he said, "he's probably still moping about the fact that he didn't get a proper invitation to compete. He feels it wouldn't be right to show up if he couldn't fight. To be honest, I agree with him, since he'd probably just up and pick a fight with somebody outside of a Smash just because they looked at him funny."

Blanc shrugged. "True," she said. "I was just wondering."

Sonic aimed a confused glance at Blanc over her tone, before catching Mario offering him a small smile, gesturing over at her with his head. Sonic rolled his eyes before he got up and walked over to Blanc, allowing her to grab him and pull him into a hug, resting his head upon her chest. Every now and again, after spotting Sonic getting petted and prodded by the twins, Blanc would often get jealous, though she'd never admit it. Still, Sonic couldn't deny that despite her often crushing blows whenever she was enraged, she had a soft touch.

Although whenever this happened it wouldn't be long before-

"Alright Blank Slate! Cuddle time is over! That's my hedgie you're cuddling!"

Yup, right on cue, Neptune showed up. She stomped over from who knows where to glare at Blanc, as she continued holding Sonic close and stroking his spines. The hedgehog in question merely sighed and looked up at the purple goddess with a smirk.

"Don't get jealous Neppy," he said. "You know you're always my first goddess."

"Still," Neptune said, "I don't like seeing _her _hugging you! So... get off!"

"Must you always be so obnoxious?" Blanc asked, before catching the twins out of the corner of her eye and going as white as her color scheme. The twins had found Pikachu's smaller self, Pichu, scampering around and began to close in on him! Even Pikachu himself tried desperately to get them to stop!

"Oh fuck!" Blanc said. "Girls, don't you dare get near that mouse or else you'll-!"

Too late. Pichu got picked up by Ram, only for him to discharge a massive amount of electricity that shocked the girls on the spot!

"Startle him," Blanc finished.

Despite that electric equivalent to a bomb they just endured, the girls, now covered in ashes and soot, laughed in delight. Even as Pichu tried to get away, threatening to electrocute them again!

"You win this one Nep," Blanc said, getting up and walking away. "I gotta handle them."

"I do have to ask," Sonic said to Neptune, as he smoothed out his quills, "what're you doing here, Nep? Shouldn't you be back in Planeptune keeping an eye on everything?"

Neptune laughed deviously. "Well, Noire and Vert are handling most of the other forms that Sakurai gave them, everyone's already been assigned their rooms, and I've got Nep Jr., Iffy, Uni, and Compa to take care of them if they need anything. Not to mention that Uzume and Plutia promised they'd show up to help too! So I'm in the clear!"

"That's-a still very irresponsible of-a you, Lady Neptune," Mario said.

"Have you met Neptune?" Sonic asked. "Irresponsible is practically her defining character trait. Aside from laziness."

Neptune felt like she got socked in the gut! "Y-you gotta be like that, Sonic?" she said. "I thought I was your goddess?"

* * *

Nepgear found herself scant for breath, with sweat dripping from her face. Despite this only being the first day the amount of time she'd spent running to and fro the different rooms of the block that had been set up for the Fighters to use in order to see anything they needed was starting to take a toll on her! In the past three hours alone she'd had to get a metric ton of Pokemon feed for the Trainer, who had taken the responsibility of caring for those not even on his team, a special kind of polish and buff for Princess Corrin's sword, new mix for paint for the Inklings, a translator for some books Zelda had asked for, and that was all without going into the non-Fighters that had accompanied their friends and companions who were arriving by the truckloads!

At least pretty much everyone she'd seen thus far was courteous and grateful for her help, but that might've just been because she'd yet to get called upon by any of the self-proclaimed 'villains'. There was that brief encounter she had with Dark Samus in the hallway, but that mainly just consisted of the Metroid Prime staring at her after Nepgear had bumped into... her? it? while she was bringing Fox and Falco snacks for their training routine. It was really creepy.

Soon enough, as Nepgear was dragging her heels behind her down the street, with her arms hanging limply in front of her in her exhaustion, she saw Uni walking in the opposite direction, in a very similar posture to how Nepgear was currently going. "Hey Uni," Nepgear greeted. "Tired?"

Uni seemed to perk up at the accusation, standing tall and looking firmly at Nepgear. "T-tired? Who's tired? I'm not tired at all! This is nothing! After all, if I'm gonna be running Lastation one day, so I gotta get used to something like this, right?"

"I suppose," Nepgear said. "Still, it would be better if our sisters were here helping. Speaking of, where _did _Noire go?"

"Filling out some last forms from Sakurai," Uni replied. "Neptune?"

"Chased after Blanc," Nepgear replied.

"Of course she did," Uni said. "Leave us with all the heavy lifting while she gets to go and say hi to their good friends..."

Nepgear caught something else in the tone of Uni's voice. Something almost like... jealousy? Nepgear had basically trained herself to recognize hints of something like that from Uni, given how she was one of the only people Uni comfortably spoke to, so it only helped that she learn to listen to things, even when Uni wasn't directly saying it.

"Uni... did you... _want _to go talk to them too?" she asked. "Because if you do, I can stay here."

"Huh?" Uni said. "No! Not at all! It's not like I want to talk to that fat man and that blue rat because I hear all the time about how cool and nice they are from Blanc or Neptune! With all their different fights against things like Dark Gaia, Lord Smithy, Cackletta, Solaris, or who knows what else!? And besides, I'm not just gonna be a flake and take off when you still need me here so... there!"

Thankfully for Uni, a bright light shone down next to the two of them, vanishing to reveal Palutena, the Goddess of Light herself. "Hello all," she greeted, "I hope I'm not late. We had a wyvern to deliver."

"Lady Palutena!" Nepgear said. "It's great to see you again!"

"It's about time you showed up," Uni said.

"Uni and Nepgear!" Palutena cheered. "Oh let me look at you both!"

She started with the black haired girl, cooing in delight as she held her head in her hands. "Oh you're just as precious as I remember!"

Uni groaned in discomfort. "Palutena!" she said. "Don't treat me like a child!" "You are a child," Palutena said, before brushing her aside in favor of Nepgear.

"And my little gear!" she said. "Oh, I feel like the last time I saw you, you and your sister were little tykes!"

"It wasn't that long ago, Palutena," Nepgear siad.

"Oh but it feels like it was," Palutena said wistfully. "But I do spy some baby fat!" She proceeded to teasingly pinch Nepgear's cheeks, causing Nepgear to laugh uncontrollably!

Uni rolled her eyes at Palutena's behavior, causing her gaze to cross two newcomers she hadn't met before. Naturally, it was Pit and Dark Pit, who were looking at the architecture of Planeptune. Being used to living in medieval, Greek environments, the two angels were naturally unused to such areas outside of whenever they competed in Smash Tournaments, chock full of their otherworldly stages.

Pit caught Uni staring, causing the CPU-Candidate to recoil under his gaze. "Hello," Pit greeted. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Pit."

"Uh, Uni," the Candidate replied. "Hey, Palutena," she said to the goddess, who had caught Nepgear from behind and was holding her still, "who're the cherubs?"

"We prefer angels," Dark Pit said gruffly.

"Oh, yes, totally forgot," Palutena said, finally letting Nepgear go and allow her to breathe. "I was just saying earlier that I know the perfect person for you to meet, Nepgear. So, I would like you to meet Pit, and our edgy friend here, Dark Pit."

Dark Pit merely scoffed as Pit waved awkwardly to Nepgear. While he knew better than to question his goddess, he still wasn't sure of his emotions in relation to Palutena essentially pairing him up with a playmate of sorts. Still, her behavior that he caught around Nepgear was enough to tell Pit that she clearly liked her, so it was enough for him to give this a shot.

"Oh! Uh... n-nice to meet you," Nepgear said shyly. "Wait a minute? You're Pit? Like, the same Pit that defeated Hades and Medusa?"

"That'd be me!" Pit said proudly.

"And you're Dark Pit?" Uni said curiously, looking to the fallen angel in question. "You know, we met a 'Dark _Samus_' character earlier, and she was fairly... creepy. Any relation?"

"I don't know what you're implying," Dark Pit replied, "but I'll have you know that I'm one of a kind."

"But..." Nepgear observed, "your name is literally '_Dark _Pit'. So, you must have some relation to Pit, right?"

"He's got a bit of an inferiority complex," Palutena whispered to the Candidates.

"I heard that," Dark Pit said. "And I'm not just going to stay here and allow you to judge me, not that I particularly care about what you have to say about me at any rate. So instead, I'm going to go exploring. I'll see you around."

Pit merely gave a nervous laugh at his doppelganger's rude behavior. _Not making the best first impression there, Pittoo_, he thought.

"Well now that he's run off," Palutena said, "why don't you go out and about, yourselves? Enjoy yourselves a little bit."

"Huh?" Nepgear asked. "Oh, but Palutena, we have so much to do. Our sisters are depending on us to take care of everything here with the Fighters!"

"Oh, about that," Palutena said, "didn't I mention that your friends Uzume and Plutia just showed up not too long ago? And I explicitly asked if they could take over your chores so you two could go and have fun as teenage girls are built to do?"

"You really are one step ahead, aren't you Palutena?" Uni asked.

"I try darling," Palutena said, pinching Uni's cheek for a second, much to her annoyance.

"O-okay," Nepgear said. "But I should still tell my sister everything that I've done so far first!"

"If you say so," Palutena said, grabbing both Nepgear and Pit's hands. "But then later, you two have fun! Got it?"

She promptly ran off to the Basilicom with Nepgear and Pit in tow, leaving Uni in the dust! "H-huh? Wait!" Uni said. "W-why does Nepgear specifically get to go off with your friend, Palutena? I want to spend time with him too! I-I mean not because I'll feel left our or anything, but because I know that... t-that-that Nepgear sucks when it comes to new people!"

* * *

Sonic let loose a sneeze, spooking Mario, who was sitting right next to him. "Something wrong-a, Sonic?" he asked.

"I have no idea why," Sonic said, "but I feel as if a piece of my soul has returned to this given space and time."

"Hm?" Mario asked.

"You ever get that feeling whenever you're around Blanc?" Sonic asked. "Like, you just feel a connection?"

"I suppose-a," Mario replied.

"Well," Sonic said, "I just felt something not unlike that."

"But-a isn't that-a Lady Neptune?" Mario asked.

"No, not Nep," Sonic said. "Something else."

Mario raised an eyebrow at what exactly that could have meant, before his eyes returned to the sight of the twins playing what could best be described as a game of Simon Says with ROB's little gyro and stacks.

"Uh... that one?" Ram said, only for it to come up wrong. "Gosh darn it!" she said.

"So how did we end up being sat with babysitting these two?" Sonic asked.

"Because-a Lady Blanc said she needed her-a entire Basilicom for a training exercise-a and obviously these two couldn't stick around," Mario replied.

"Ah," Sonic said, well aware of Lady White Heart's destructive behavior.

The next moment, the door opened and Palutena stepped in with Pit, Nepgear, and Uni trailing behind her. The moment that she was within sight, the twins stopped what they were doing and saw her approach. "Auntie Palutena!" they then screamed, practically trampling poor ROB and his stuff in order to tackle her with a hug!

"Oh my!" Palutena said. "I didn't know you two were going to be here! Hello!"

"Hello Lady Palutena," Mario said, helping ROB back up.

"Sup'?" Sonic greeted casually, also assisting.

"Hello Mario, Sonic," Palutena said, selectively petting Rom and Ram's heads, or pinching their cheeks. "Nice to see you again. Anyway, you wrap up whatever you have to do here, Little Gear."

"Right! Okay!" Nepgear said, running off with Pit choosing to follow, Uni trailing behind them awkwardly.

"So I see Pit met the other Candidates," Sonic observed.

"That he did," Palutena said, a hint of tiredness in her voice. "I'm trying to get them to spend time with each other. Don't tell Pit I said this, but I honestly think that he needs to spend time with people closer to his age. And the Candidates are perfect since we can easily get to and from Gamindustri from Skyworld, no issue, and I'm already really tight with their older sisters."

Sonic and Mario gave understanding nods. The twins looked to one another, smirking in delight at each other. "We gotcha Auntie Palutena!" they said.

That moment, the others reentered the living room. "Okay," Nepgear said. "Everything is filed away. If Uzume or Plutia come here, just tell them they can find everything they might need in my room."

"We got it," Palutena said with a wave.

"You met Pit, right?" Ram asked. "Isn't he cool?"

"Huh? Me?" Pit said.

"We're familiar with him," Uni replied.

"He beat Hades!" Ram said. "He's killed all these big, ugly monsters and bad gods!"

"Yeah!" Rom said. "He's really nice and funny too!"

"Oh come on, you two," Pit said. "No need to - bwah!" The twins promptly tackled him with a jumping hug to the neck, knocking him to the ground! "Shut up and let us love you!" Ram said.

"Oh goodness," Nepgear laughed.

"Seems _they _already like him," Uni said.

"I may have introduced him to them before," Palutena said mischievously. "Back during the welcoming ceremony."

"And not us? What the heck?" Uni said.

"Oh come on," Palutena said. "You've been introduced now."

She then picked the twins up and held them under her arms like loaves of bread. "Now then," she said, "what say you three go out on the town?"

"Are you really sure about this, Lady Palutena?" Pit asked. "Shouldn't I be training for the Tournament?"

"You'll have plenty of time for that," Palutena said. "I think it's best you get to spend time with these two before then. Go out and enjoy yourself. See what Planeptune has to offer, and if you really want to, they can even show you the rest of Gamindustri too."

Pit looked to the girls, a curious tilt in his head. "Is that alright with you, Lady Nepgear and Lady Uni?" he asked.

"I wouldn't mind," Nepgear said. "And just 'Nepgear' is fine!"

"Sure," Uni replied casually.

"Alright!" Pit said. "Well, I'll see you later Lady Palutena!"

The three ran off, Palutena feeling a weight lifted as she knew Pit now had some good friends to fall back on. The rest of the afternoon, she spent time fondly watching Rom and Ram have their own fun. Mario and Sonic were able to relax a bit more now, Sonic even taking a nap on the bean bag chair as the clock rolled along.

Eventually, the door opened again, with Uzume Tennouboshi coming in. "Hey there!" she said. "Is there a Nepsy in here?"

"Nope," Palutena replied.

"Ah," Uzume said. "Any clue where I might find her?"

"She might-a still be with Lady Blanc in the Lowee Basilicom-a," Mario replied.

"Oh, thanks," Uzume said. "Say, you're Mario, eh? Nice to meetcha!"

"Nice to meet-a you as well," Mario said with a nod.

Uzume's eyes fell upon Sonic, who was awoken by the loud entrance, and he was staring at Uzume with wide eyes and a slack jaw!

"Hey! Uncle Sonic!" Ram said, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Oh no! He broke!" Rom said.

He suddenly rushed over to Uzume, still looking at her with an astonished expression! Uzume herself was looking at him with her own stunned face.

"Uh... Sonic?" Palutena asked.

He could not reply. The tube top, the leg warmers, the fingerless gloves, the white jacket, the watch, the tie with the spiral logo on it, even her pigtails! She was perfect! It was like the nineties itself had personified and become this individual standing before his eyes!

"Have I... met you before?" Sonic asked.

"I don't think so," Uzume said. "But I have a feeling like we know each other already."

The next moment, everyone got a shock as they both hugged each other close and fell to their knees! To further shock everyone else, both Uzume and Sonic were in tears! "Where have you been!?" they cried.

"Uh... Uncle Mario?" Rom asked, poking Mario's side. "Is Uncle Sonic and Ms. Uzume okay?"

"I think-a they'll be fine," Mario replied. "But I believe-a Sonic found the missing part of his soul," he added, ROB nodding beside him. Palutena was merely laughing to herself.

* * *

**_A/N: And so the opening stage is done. Don't fear everybody, because the next time, we'll start with the official one-shots._**

**_I kept this one fairly shorter than the last, mostly focusing on Sonic, Mario, and Pit. Sonic and Mario were easy picks, given Blanc and Neptune's roles, and I liked the idea that even if Sonic and Neptune have more relation, Sonic is still supportive of Blanc and had bonded with her as much as he had with Mario in recent years. I also like the idea that Rom and Ram see them and the other Fighters as their uncles, with Palutena as an aunt of sort._**

**_Speaking of, one of the first things I thought of when considering this story was Pit bonding with Nepgear and Uni. Namely Nepgear. I mentioned this in passing during the last chapter, but Nepgear and Pit I felt would bond really well given their natures. They could learn to lean on each other and given how they're both major nerds would only help matters._**

**_These two are precious children and must be protected at all cost... even if their luck is just awful!_**

**_And lastly, I didn't initially have this here, but I just love the idea of Sonic and Uzume bonding with each other! Uzume literally is the nineties personified into an anime girl. Plus, she also represents Sega's last console (RIP) the Dreamcast, so Sonic would obviously attach to her._**

**_And for those wondering why Neptune didn't pop up to demand Uzume release him like she did Blanc, I'm sure Neptune wouldn't mind._**

**_Like I said, this is the last part of "Stage One" and the foundation has finally settled. Starting next time, we'll have the first of many one-shots to come. Let me know what you guys think, and until next time, have a fantastic evening and take care!_**


	4. Stage 2: Ink or Swim

**Stage Two: Start!**

More or less, things had fallen into a comfortable routine for the CPUs of Gamindustri and the welcomed Fighters for the Super Smash Bros. Tournament. As fights were set to come and go, with guests checking in to see their friends or attend a battle, everything was moving like clockwork. Blanc had even managed to calm some, thanks to having the assistance of everyone else who was willing to offer their help.

She had initially imposed it as something of a personal responsibility on herself, maintaining the Tournament, due to her close relationship with Master Hand and many of the Fighters like the Mario Bros., Samus Aran, Princess Zelda, and more, thus making the idea of handling the Tournament as too close to her own heart and something she felt would be up to her personally. But with the other CPUs along with the Candidates, the Oracles, and the number of Makers that lived across Gamindustri all willing to pitch in, it certainly gave her a feeling of having a literal weight lifted off her shoulders. It seemed as if things were going to go on without incident with the numerous hands on deck all taking care of a number of different tasks to help keep things perpetually moving forward.

That is, until Nepgear called her one morning with a... disgruntling announcement.

"What in the name of Miyamoto am I looking at?" Blanc asked, as she and the other CPUs + Histoire stood in front of the Planeptune Basilicom, which was now positively coated in blue and orange ink.

"This would be the handiwork of those Inkling children," Histoire replied.

"I don't exactly see what this has to do with us," Noire said. "I mean, this appears to be your headache, not ours."

"While I may not be as eloquent as Noire," Vert said, "I do agree that you are the ones who ultimately won out to have the Fighters stay in your country. So this mess is your responsibility to handle."

"Well here's the thing about that," Neptune said, "because, if the Inklings ever find their way to any of your nations, it's going to be _your _headache too."

"Point granted," the other CPUs said nervously, picturing their own Basilicoms or beloved places smothered by the ink.

"I'm really, really sorry," Nepgear said. "It all happened earlier this morning. I was just doing my check-ins to see if the other Fighters needed anything, when the Inklings found me. They wanted to do a training session, so I left them with IF to keep track of them and make sure they didn't do too much damage, and when I got back... this happened."

"Where is IF now?" Blanc asked.

"I'm here..." the Maker in question said with what sounded like an exhausted tone. The others then heard the sound of repeated squelching noises, before catching sight of IF approaching, her entire body coated in orange! "And please don't make any jokes like 'ah! That orange is talking!' please?"

"Do I want to know what you've been through?" Noire asked, with Neptune next to her, forced to contain her laughter.

"You really don't," IF replied. "Earlier I was just minding my own business when Nepgear asked me if I could keep an eye on the Inklings while they trained. And... well... things got a little out of hand. I'll leave it at that."

Blanc couldn't help but rub her eyes. Both Master Hand and Sakurai had warned her that something like this could happen with the Inklings. Not only was this their first Smash Tourney, but they were also, well, kids. Their entire game was built around making a bigger mess of things than their opponent. They just didn't know any better.

"And where are they now?" Blanc asked.

"Compa and I were able to wrangle them," IF replied, "after a while at least. She's going to make it a physical effort to try and clean them."

"Okay," Blanc said, "we're all well aware of this now, so let's keep this noted for when it's their time to fight."

"It shouldn't be any real trouble, right?" Neptune asked. "I mean, every time there's a battle in one of these Tourneys, everything gets fixed up by Master Hand, yeah? I mean, you can detonate a bomb or fly a ship right into the environment and nothing gets broke, yeah?"

"That is true," Vert said. "But now that does bring up another point. If that isn't a problem, why else did you call us here? Why not just tell us about this over a call?"

"Well, that's simple," Neptune replied. "I need help cleaning the Basilicom. Okay?"

"Not okay," the others said.

"Well it's either that," Neptune said, "or I ask Plutia to go and 'help' you all in your chores~"

The other CPUs all felt another shudder go through their bodies, collective visions of Iris Heart flowing in their minds.

"You have a real evil streak. You know that, Neptune?" Noire asked.

"Oh I do," Neptune replied. "So let's hop to it!"

"You know you have to help too, right Neptune?" Histoire asked.

Neptune dropped her head in a sigh. "I was hoping you wouldn't remember that," she said.

* * *

Turns out, the next time that Blanc would end up hearing another problem with the Inklings came about during their very first match. Blanc got called over by Neptune again, finding the CPU of Planeptune with massive streaks of blue and orange on her body. "Let me guess," Blanc said, "Greninja giving you trouble?"

"Hardy har," Neptune replied. "So, as it turns out, the ink doesn't automatically vanish in the middle of a match."

"I see," Blanc said. "What exactly is the damage we're looking at?"

"Well there's quite a number of stains covering the Umbra Clock Tower," Neptune replied. "And thankfully Roy, Pac-Man, and Luigi had their ink beaten off of them, so that's less dry-cleaning we have to handle."

"You're acting remarkably responsible," Blanc said.

"Well aware of the fact that I could suffer another task as menial as cleaning the Basilicom," Neptune replied. "I want to get this settled as fast as possible so I can go back to my games."

"And where are the Inklings now?" Blanc asked.

"Well considering Compa cleaned them last time," Neptune said, "and IF got positively coated in their ink in the process, this time around it's Nep Jr.'s turn."

"You go help," Blanc said.

"What?" Neptune asked.

"I'm going to handle the Umbra Clock Tower," Blanc said, "so it's only fair you go help your little sister in cleaning those squids."

"But I'm not-!" Neptune said, cutting herself off as she saw Blanc's firm and violent looking stare. "Okay, moving on!" Neptune added, marching in the direction her sister had brought the Inklings as straight as a Mecha-Koopa.

"That's what I thought you meant," Blanc said.

* * *

"Okay, c'mere little buddy!" Neptune said, letting the Inkling boy sit on her lap, getting more ink on her jersey jacket as he got himself comfortable. Truth be told, though she'd never admit it, Neptune was actually quite familiar with what it took to manage a few messy kids, considering she had essentially raised alternate versions of IF and Compa, plus Peashy, for several years while she was stuck in the Ultra Dimension, thanks to the time differentiation between both worlds.

So while she was normally highly impatient and lazy, she found herself oddly tolerant of little children. This extended to while she was managing the Inkling on her lap, carefully wiping his cheeks clean of the ink that had gotten onto him from his match. Even in the few occasions that he found himself laughing, she would pinch his cheek or tickle his gut.

This behavior was caught by Nepgear as she managed the Inkling girl. She couldn't help but fondly remember when she was younger, being looked after by her sister. It was one of the main reasons why she was so devoted to Neptune now, even if the goddess had gotten much more lackadaisical with age.

The Inkling on Nepgear's lap made a curious noise, as the Candidate had slowed some while pondering. Nepgear made a smile to the squid, booping her nose to reassure her she was fine.

"Okay!" IF declared, strutting into the room. "I have made a call to Master Hand, and he has assured us that he should at least be able to set up a vanishing period for the ink on the stages! So that way any ink that gets on it will vanish over time."

"Thank Nepness!" Neptune said, resting her head against the Inkling boy's in exhaustion.

"Well that should make things easier for us, right?" Nepgear asked.

"Hopefully!" Neptune said. "I'll be sure to let the others know!"

* * *

The following day it was Noire's turn to manage the matches, whereupon she called the other CPUs over to Lastation when it was done, standing before them with a miffed look on her face and her arms crossed in annoyance. Her body covered in blue (normal, baby, and navy), orange, pink, yellow, and purple.

"Let me guess," Neptune said, "the vanishing period didn't kick in?"

"Oh it did," Noire replied. "But did you, perchance, hear that we were going to be getting _SIX _more Inklings!?"

"Come to think of it, no," Neptune replied.

"Neither did I," Vert added.

Everyone looked to Blanc, whose gaze was aimed curiously at the sky. "Blanc," they said firmly.

"It slipped my mind!" Blanc replied angrily.

"In that case," Noire said, "you can go and maintain the little brats now! It shouldn't be too hard when living with your sisters, right?"

Vert let out a laugh. "With your coloration, you'll act like a blank canvas for their colors!" she laughed.

"Keep laughin'," Blanc said, "and see where it gets you!"

"I'm just gonna head out before this gets too rough," Neptune said, turning and walking away.

* * *

_**A/N: This one was really charming to write. Naturally, I thought that with the Inklings' messy nature it would only be fair that parts of Gamindustri suffer as a result. Particularly when it comes to how the ink sticks around in actual Smash matches as part of the Inklings' abilities.**_

_**I didn't really have much to stretch that out save for that, it's a really straightforward one-shot. The Inklings are causing havoc and the CPUs have to figure out just how to live with it.**_

_**I did get a smile out of referencing Neptune caring for the babies during Victory, and even hinting that she was similar to Nepgear when they were younger. While it's questionable if CPUs actually age (seeing the Candidates born during Re;Birth 1 doesn't help any) I've personally always seen that they do, at least to a degree, especially with Neptune referencing that she and Nepgear had used to play when they were "tykes" during the events of mk2.**_

_**Another part that made me smile was the filthy IF. Yeah, not gonna lie I enjoyed that part. But don't worry fellow IF fans, she'll get her chance to shine before too long. **__**PS; In case you couldn't get it, IF walking up to the others was inspired by Teddie getting frozen on the ski trip from Persona 4: Golden. Bit of a fun fact for ya!**_

_**And last thing we'll have review responses:**_

_**To NexusPrime42: The whole of Gamindustri is aware of the Tournament. In my head, Gamindustri acts as sort of the "core" of the different video game worlds. Henceforth, even the different NPCs are well aware of the different dimensions (IE; Metal Gear world, Legend of Zelda world, Metroid world, Persona world, etc.), so they are able to pick up on the Smash Tournament and watch it like a standard sporting event.**_

_**And to NepPower: If I could, I would happily take both Planeptune sisters! It'd be nice if they could have Neptune as a Fighter, with Nepgear as an Echo Fighter for her.**_

_**Also, for the Guest user who requested Ryu and Ken fighting Tekken, that has been noted! Just a heads up to all readers, if you have suggestions please feel free to let me know! I'd be really interested to see what you have in mind!**_

_**Until next time, thank you all so much for reading and for the people who've checked out this story already! It really does make me happy and I hope to continue to entertain in the future! Until next time, let me know what you think, and until then take care!**_


	5. Stage 3: Monster Maintainer

**Stage Three: Start!**

IF worked primarily as a member of Planeptune's Guild, meaning she took up several missions that offered her payment for completing them. Many of these missions naturally involved her taking care of certain monsters. However, in her life, never before did she ever have to _take care_ of a monster before.

It all started earlier that day when the CPUs were all called to Leanbox to discuss a matter that Vert felt the need to bring to their attention. "Ladies," she said, "I'm afraid that we may have a wyvern problem on the horizon."

"Elaborate?" Blanc asked.

"It's come to my attention," Vert said, "that Rathalos is going to become very impatient if he does not have anything to eat within the near future."

"Well what do we feed him?" Neptune asked.

"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Vert replied. "Shulk was kind enough to warn me that Rathalos would begin getting testy after having a vision, so I had to give the beast a distraction until we could properly feed him."

"What kind of distraction?" Noire asked.

* * *

The things that Mario was willing to do for his CPUs was inconceivable. And this day was the best example, where he obediently went to act as bait with Yoshi as his mount, running as fast as they could away from Rathalos! The only thing he could do in this situation, was release a fretful, "Mama mia!"

Yoshi's feet plodded the ground fast as they could go, occasionally tossing an egg behind for Rathalos to snap down on and distract him for half a second! Being more used to the cartoony or cutesy "monsters" of the Super Mario universe, Yoshi certainly wasn't expecting something as terrifying or vicious as Rathalos when Mario told him that they were going to distract a monster. "Yoshi," Mario said, "I would just like you to know now in advance, I apologize.

Yoshi used his Scuttle Jump to get over Rathalos's head, letting him crash into a mountain wall while they tried to move around it! The wyvern was totally unaffected by the brunt force, however, merely keeping up the chase with a sonic roar aimed behind it that tossed the dinosaur through the air!

* * *

As Vert finished explaining, the others looked at her with wide eyes, Blanc in particular feeling an eye twitch in annoyance as she looked at the CPU of Leanbox. "What?" Blanc asked. "Why in the world would you do that to him!?"

"Well I needed somebody to handle it," Vert replied. "Besides, he volunteered."

"But did he really know what he was getting himself into?" Blanc asked.

"He didn't ask," Vert replied.

"That's no excuse!" Blanc said.

"Alright," Noire said, doing her best to defuse the situation. "Let's just take a step back. We know that Mario can handle himself. In the meantime, what do we do to feed Rathalos?"

"Well from what I gathered off the research Robin provided," Vert replied, "Rathalos is entirely carnivorous, so frankly any meat will be able to satiate him. But being a flying creature, it'd be best to go with avian meat."

"Okay, we got that," Neptune said, "but what do we do beyond that?"

"Well somebody has to give the feed to him," Blanc replied.

"Yeah..." Neptune added. "But that requires... getting near him. Near a very, very angry monster."

That's when the goddesses realized what they were all silently considering already. One of them would have to get close to Rathalos, while it was in a feeding frenzy. And that was something that not a one of them wanted to do.

"Well," Neptune said, after several minutes of consideration, "I've got an idea."

* * *

"You want me to what?" Uzume asked.

"Come on Uzume," Neptune said, "you take care of all kinds of monsters back in the Zero Dimension! Can't you, you know, do a sister a solid and feed Rathalos too?"

"But Nepsy," Uzume replied, "the monsters I take care of like the Baby Bugs and Doggoos tend to be, you know, a lot smaller. And cuter."

"So," Neptune replied, "this can give you some more experience in monster care!"

"I still don't know Nepsy," Uzume said, raising a brow. "From the way you describe that thing, it sounds like it's gonna be really angry and would sooner bite my own head off than eat anything I tried giving it."

"Ugh! Girl! Why you bein' difficult!?" Neptune said.

"What's all this about?" IF asked. She was walking past as she saw the CPUs of Planeptune caught in a tizzy.

"Oh, nothing Iffy," Neptune replied. "I'm just trying to get Uzume here to go and feed Rathalos before the wyvern rains fire down from the heavens upon on all of Gamindustri."

"Don't put pressure on me or anything," Uzume said.

"That was the idea," Neptune said smugly.

"Why can't you do it?" IF asked. "Or any of the other goddesses?"

"Well," Neptune replied, a bead of sweat going down the side of her head, "the thing about that is... none of us really... _want _to do it?"

"Really Nep?" IF asked.

"Hey, that thing is scary man!" Neptune said. "Palutena was telling us earlier how that thing nearly bit Pit right in half when they were trying to wrangle it from its dimension!"

"Well what about Plutia?" IF asked. "Have you checked with her?"

"We're just trying to feed that thing, not violate it!" Neptune replied with horror in her voice.

IF let out a tired sigh. She knew that with all of the CPUs too chicken to bother growing a pair and dealing with Rathalos, naturally, the responsibility would have to fall to somebody more responsible. And just as it happens, as per usual, it was going to her.

"Okay," IF replied, "I'll handle it."

"What? Really?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah," IF replied. "Just give me the food for the thing and I'll go find wherever it ran off to and see what I can do."

"Thanks Iffy!" Neptune replied. "This is why you're one of my besties!"

"Because I always clean up your messes when you're too lazy or busy wetting your pants to bother handling it yourself?" IF asked.

"Well you had to put it like that!" Neptune said, hanging her head in defeat as Uzume laughed heartily beside her.

IF shot Neptune a smile. "Barring that," she said, "if I'm going to do this, then I may need a few more things."

"Anything!" Neptune said.

* * *

IF pulled her motorcycle up to a stop on the cliffside that overlooked the roost where Rathalos was kept off in the Virtua Forest, just out of range of the Fighters or citizens back in Planeptune city, both to keep them from bothering it, and as such, keep Rathalos from scorching or mauling them. She looked around, trying to see if she could spot it from her vantage point, pulling a pair of binoculars from her comically large coat so as to get a better view. In a cart just behind her bike, she had a metric ton of meat from all varieties of bird that the CPUs could find, which would probably only be enough to satiate the Rathalos for the time being.

IF recalled hearing that Mario was busy distracting Rathalos, so she was sure that she would find Rathalos flying around somewhere overhead in an attempt to stop the plumber in his tracks. Or just as likely, bulldozing the trees in an effort to run him over. Sure enough, as she was looking, she saw the wyvern flying over the forest, shooting a fireball or two down at the trees at something she couldn't currently see, which she knew must be Mario.

A moment later, she saw something that left her at a loss for words, as she spotted Yoshi bounce up from the forest on a pair of wings, flying ahead of Rathalos and trying to get out of range! As far as she knew, Yoshis did not have the capacity to grow wings, but she had no real way in knowing.

She heard a noise just behind her, looking over to see Snake, Incineroar, and Samus. "Okay you three," she said, "I take it you see the situation?"

"Is that... Yoshi... flying?" Snake asked, rather flummoxed, with Incineroar giving an equally confused expression.

"Yeah, I was just as thrown off by that as you," IF replied. "But at least he's picking up the pace. So that gives us enough time to get Rathalos's attention."

"So how do we do that?" Samus asked. IF smiled once more, eager to let her mind run wild.

Yoshi ducked just low enough to get out of range of Rathalos's fire, his tail nearly singed from the proximity to the heat! Taking flight was not as good an idea that he was hoping for! Rathalos was not called the 'Lord of the Sky' for no reason! The best that Yoshi was doing currently was no better than he was doing before, just barely out of range of the wyvern as they continued to chase them down!

Just as Yoshi was about to get chomped, a blur slugged Rathalos square in the head, causing the creature to swoop down, swinging its head from side to side in a vain attempt to get whatever it was off of him! Yoshi continued to fly away, but looked back along with Mario to see just what was happening! And to their surprise, they found it to be Incineroar, who was clutching a horn with one claw as he repeatedly slugged his head with the other one!

"Hey, need a lift?" a voice asked. Mario and Yoshi looked up to see Samus's gunship loop down with the hangar open!

"How far are you going?" Mario replied, sighing in relief.

Rathalos fell to the ground, finally knocking Incineroar off with one final buck! The Heel Pokemon looked defiantly at Rathalos, as the creature revved up a fireball to shoot at the cat-like creature! That is, until IF shot by in a green blur, grabbing Incineroar by the waist and towing him behind!

Incineroar grabbed onto IF and let her drive, as Rathalos screamed behind them and chased them down! IF continued to rev the engine on her bike, doing what she could to build up speed, trying to get Rathalos out of sight for her plan to pay off! Finally, when they were what seemed to be far enough away, she disconnected the cart with the meat, and turned on a dime! The bike shot off down the other way, as the cart rushed away!

Rathalos followed the scent of the meat in the cart into a clearing, screeching to a halt as he saw no sign of the girl or the cat that were on the bike towing it. Spinning around, Rathalos randomly shot balls of fire into the trees, blowing them over in heaps, but found nobody around for several yards around! All that there was in the trees was a single cardboard box.

Choosing to not bother, as he continued getting drawn in by the smell of the meat, Rathalos went to town on the cart, chewing down on the several pounds of food! By the time he was finished only about a minute or two had passed. He wasn't entirely full, but it did satiate him for awhile. With one final roar, Rathalos took to the skies.

Back on the ground, under the box, IF, Incineroar, and Snake all tumbled out! "Well," Snake said. "It worked."

"That was one way to do it," IF said.

"Yeah, but what about when it gets hungry again?" Snake asked.

"I'm... sure I'll think of something," IF said. "For now, let's just get a safe distance away from that thing!"

The trio moved along, getting out of range of the wyvern as it continued to fly into the sky. Its fill was satisfying, but it still needed more! The others knew this, which is why they booked it!

By the time they got back to town, Mario crumpled to the ground with Yoshi right beside him! "Imma' never doing anything like-a that again!"

"We're really sorry Mario," IF said. "I'm not sure why Lady Vert would put you of all people up to that."

"It's-a my good nature," Mario replied.

"Well trust me," IF said, "I'm gonna make sure she get's her comeuppance for being so cruel to you."

As IF thought, she saw the others looking at her with feigned interest. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Samus said, removing her helmet. "It's just, you're remarkably level-headed for most of the girls we've met from this world. Even Lady Blanc or Lady Noire have their quirks."

IF shrugged. "Somebody's gotta do it," she said. "Especially when you spend as much time with Nep as I do."

"Well," she added, looking at the spot where Rathalos was flying, "not much else we can do here now. Let's get back to the Basilicom and let the chickens - I mean, CPUs know that we fed Rathalos for them. They can handle the rest."

* * *

With Rathalos fairly relaxed now with food in his stomach, the CPUs were not so scared as to try feeding it. All the same, they knew more often than not, the one they really wanted to have go near that thing, was IF. While she still took issue with it, she found it easier to merely go with the flow and not bother trying to argue any further.

One day, she actually found Uzume trying to handle it herself, her defense being the fact that she handled different monsters in her own universe. She was remarkably jumpy around the creature, for her at least, but IF was able to help her stay calm. Surprisingly, IF found that Rathalos was actually far more relaxed when he was being sufficiently fed, and had gotten used to IF's continued visits to feed him.

IF couldn't deny, the more she looked at Rathalos, the more and more majestic the creature seemed to be. The way it proudly took to the air, or demonstrated its immense size when it would land down in front of her for its meal, it truly seemed to earn its moniker as the "Lord of the Skies." And that was how IF ended up being the unofficial caretaker of Rathalos.

* * *

_**A/N: I love Rathalos. I can't deny that. And I knew I wanted to do something with them before I even began writing! **__**The simplest thing I could think of was just have Rathalos causing havoc, but only because he was hungry! **_

_**The reason why I chose IF as the central focus is just because I love IF. I figured that she'd be an elite character to handle a situation like this, so that's why I used her. I also did a little joke by having her team up with Snake to handle Rathalos. Honestly, I don't really have much else to say because of the fact that I left most of my trains of thought in the chapter itself.**_

_**For Review Responses:  
**_

_**To ptl: I could totally see Futaba chilling with Otacon, so I will totally keep that in mind! I already thought about Joker's arrival, but I can definitely do something with the rest of the Phantom Thieves because I love them all! And as for villains being handled by Iris Heart, I thought of a different victim to her, but that is another good suggestion.**_

_**And as for the guest user who commented on Iris Heart being annoyed specifically by Ridley, I will definitely do that as a follow-up to my initial idea.**_

_**And to GeneralUrist: I do think there's room for debate about Neptune being included. Most of the fanservice ridden material being included in the Neptunia series is saved for CGs from the games themselves or promotional material or products. Objectively, by themselves, their designs are rather unassuming. The most risque is Green Heart, but that's it. You don't even need Green Heart as a Spirit if Neptune were to become a Fighter (although it'd be a bit surprising if they didn't use their HDD forms). And don't forget, we got Bayonetta, which was a very raunchy and fanservice ridden game. The only reason Mai wasn't included is because visually she is a character that evokes eroticism, since that's the whole point of her character. By adding a bodysuit or censoring her like they did with Bayonetta, would defeat the point of her style, which I'm sure Sakurai, who is obviously passionate about Fatal Fury/King of Fighters, wouldn't want to do since it would defeat the purpose of her design.**_

**_But I now want to do a chapter about Vert arguing with Sakurai about Mai. Thanks!_**

_**So thanks for reading! Let me know what you think and any other ideas you might have!**_


	6. Stage 4: The Ultimate Enemy

**Stage Four: Start!**

Amongst the flood of enemies that were rushing about the fields, the next thing the Kremlin knew was he had gotten punted into the air by Vert's spear, before exploding in midair! The Redead attempted to deliver a slugging fist, only to get its head lopped off by Noire's sword! A Mechon met with an unfortunate fate as it got stabbed through the chest by Neptune's own sword! And the poor Goombas never stood a chance, even in their totem pole formation, as Blanc lifted her hammer above her head and positively flattened the poor things!

While the CPUs were kept busier than ever as of recently with managing the Smash Tournament on top of ensuring their nations remained orderly, they practically never had the time to go on any quests and battles! So they took advantage of the resources they had and summoned numerous enemies from the different worlds to ensure they didn't lose their edges. Suffice is to say, most of the enemies they battled were fairly easy to deal with compared to most of the creatures they normally handled.

Sure, while there were a definite ranking system in place comparing their enemies to the ones summoned before them, with Doggoos or even Horsebirds no more or less deadly than the likes of Waddle Dees or Mettaurs, but they'd yet to have an enemy spawned that matched the levels of the different enemies like Dragons or even the likes of the many types of Wolves.

"Boy," Neptune said, cutting an Egg-Pawn in half, "these guys are pretty simple."

"Well Neptune," Vert replied, stabbing a Starman, "you have to remember, we're mostly dealing with the lower levels ones for now. Just to make sure we can still handle ourselves."

"Sure enough," Noire said, slashing at a Monoeye. "If we really want, we can summon some Boss Level things in the future."

They were all cut off when they heard Blanc scream at the top of her voice! They all turned to see her stuck in a loop while a Devil Car did doughnuts all over her! "Fuck! Ass! Bitch! Shit!" she shouted.

"Okay," Noire said, "clearly that one was put there as a joke."

"Considering we got Crazy Hand to do this?" Vert replied. "Probably."

They both rushed over to help the CPU of Lowee. Neptune laughed as she went to go help as well, until she stopped dead in her tracks. She felt something in the back of her mind. Something that made her feel terribly uneasy.

It was as if a dark force had appeared nearby that filled her with a positive sense of dread and terror! The force settled directly behind her, causing her to turn slowly in the direction the force had originated. And the moment she caught sight of it, she let loose a scream that could be heard from all over Gamindustri!

King K. Rool jumped out of his chair in the restaurant in terror!

Isabelle leapt fearfully into the arms of a nearby Nisa!

Yuri Kozukata desperately tried to keep her camera from smashing on the ground as Luigi jumped right into her in shock, causing the two to crash on top of an unfortunate MAGES, the three ending up in an awkward lump on the ground. Though thankfully, Yuri's camera was spared.

Back in the field where the CPUs had been training, the second that Blanc was released from the Devil Car, the three other goddesses all promptly rushed over to the source of the sonic scream! "Neptune, what's wrong!?" Vert asked, only for Neptune to throw herself into Vert's arms! Her sword had been totally left behind as she babbled desperately and pointed in the direction the offending presence had stemmed from.

They all turned in that direction, spotting a rather odd looking creature. They recognized it as a creature from Pit's world, with a bizarrely shaped head, mostly purple color scheme, and a staff at its side. But the second they were able to recognize it, they spotted the problem.

It was an Eggplant Wizard. Eggplant. Neptune's ultimate weakness.

Whenever she was so much as _around _eggplants they knew that all bets were off. She crumpled to the ground and lost every ounce of strength or will to fight, even if she were Purple Heart at the time!

It wasn't just that she found eggplants to be gross, she was honest to goddess terrified of them! How this began in the first place remained a mystery to everybody. What was known for certain was that Neptune would never truly get over this fear, and as such, was kept as far away as physically possible from any eggplant in Gamindustri.

"Oh no," Blanc said, rubbing her eyes. "I thought I explicitly said 'No Eggplant Wizards' to that bastard hand. We all know, every deity in existence knows, that she can't get near any eggplants!"

"Remember," Noire said, "it's Crazy Hand! _Crazy_! For good reason!"

"W-w-w-wizard?" Neptune asked nervously, clutching Vert for comfort. "W-why is it a wizard?"

As if in response, the Eggplant Wizard pointed its staff towards a nearby Koopa, turning it into an eggplant on the spot in a puff of smoke! Neptune shrieked at the top of her lungs, pointing at the Koopa turned eggplant! "No, no, no, no!" Neptune yelled. "Get it away from me!"

"Calm down, Neptune," Noire said, prepping her sword, "we'll take care of it!"

However, things promptly went from bad to worse. The Eggplant Wizard promptly took to the air and booked it for parts unknown! But it was flying in the general direction of Planeptune from the Virtua Forest!

"Uh-oh," Noire said.

"No!" Neptune said. "It's gonna turn my whole country into eggplants!"

"Okay, I've had enough of this," Blanc said. She turned into White Heart, holding her newly transformed axe over her head! "Anybody who doesn't need to be here, piss off!"

With a thunderous 'slam!' to the ground, she instantly killed all remaining enemies, before taking to the air in pursuit of the Eggplant Wizard!

"Come on," Vert said, turning into Green Heart, "let's help her."

"Oh no!" Neptune said, digging her heels in the ground as Green Heart tried to drag her along. "I am not going anywhere near that thing! If it turns _me _into an eggplant I know I'm as good as dead! That feeling will never leave my body forever!"

"Neptune, for crying out loud!" Noire said, turning into Black Heart. "You're a goddess! The CPU of Planeptune! So start acting like it!"

She grabbed Neptune's other hand as she and Green Heart flew off towards Planeptune, with Neptune kicking and screaming all the while! "No! No! No!" she said. "I can't! I can't go near that thing and see it turn more things into eggplants! It-ugh!Hurp! Oh... it's making me sick!"

* * *

"Oh no," Pit said fiercely, crushing the plastic cup he was carrying and spilling soda all over his hand.

"Hm?" Nepgear asked. "What's wrong, Pit?"

"I feel a great sense of evil from my world has arrived," Pit replied. "Truly, the ultimate force of evil I have ever encountered."

"What is it?" Nepgear asked. "Medusa? Hades, even?"

"Worse," Pit said.

Promptly, the Eggplant Wizard touched down in the middle of the road in front of them, looking around for something to transform. "Incoming!" Pit said, tackling Nepgear into a nearby alleyway!

Wario, who was walking past at the time, found himself as the unlucky victim as the Eggplant Wizard promptly turned him into an eggplant!

"What the goodness!?" Nepgear said. "What just happened!"

"An Eggplant Wizard!" Pit said. "My most hated enemy!" He pulled out an Ogre Club that he just... happened to have in his back. "Come on, after it!" he yelled, as the Eggplant Wizard ran down the street!

"What about Wario?" Nepgear asked.

"The effects are only temporary!" Pit replied. "He'll be fine!"

The Eggplant Wizard continued to storm down the street with Pit and Nepgear, who had transformed into Purple Sister, in hot pursuit! The wizard was running at speeds that would impress even Sonic, causing havoc everywhere it went, startling any Fighter in its path before they so much as had an idea what had happened!

Olimar, Dedede, Jigglypuff, Game & Watch, the Ice Climbers (ironically), Duck Hunt, all of them transformed before anybody could so much as react! Pit and Purple Sister struggled as much as they could to catch up, but the thing was moving remarkably fast! If Pit could use the Power of Flight he might be able to catch it, but unfortunately he had no clue where Palutena had ran off to this time.

C-Sha and S-Sha were walking by with Samus, as the Eggplant Wizard rushed past, turning Samus into an eggplant next and startling the Gold Third members! Pit and Purple Sister hurried past them, as the two continued to look on in wonderment. "Do I want to know what all that was about?" C-Sha asked.

"Frankly, at this rate," White Heart said, causing the Gold Third members to look up and see her and the other goddesses fly past, "you really don't!"

"Ah! Lady White Heart!" Pit said, as the goddess in question flew up beside him. "Where in the heck did an Eggplant Wizard come from!?"

"Our dumbass choice to trust Crazy Hand with anything!" White Heart replied. "Now as for my question, why aren't you shooting the motherfucker!?"

"Oh! Good point!" Pit said. He traded out his Ogre Club in favor of an EZ-Cannon and shot a charged blast at the wizard!

The shot hit true, nailing the Eggplant Wizard and felling it to the ground! It slid across the road on its face, before spinning around and firing off a retaliating shot! Pit and White Heart barely dodged in time, but it caught an unfortunate Otto as he, Mega Man and Roll were watching the situation!

Pit shot once again, but the Eggplant Wizard avoided the blast! He fired again, Pit dodging this one in turn, as it caught a nearby Captain Toad!

"Oh this bullshit is getting ridiculous!" White Heart screamed. "Just die already!" She dove towards the wizard, who was impressively able to dodge her axe strike! He shot at her, and she just barely avoided getting turned into an eggplant as the blast went right past her head, narrowly avoiding her hair! But Poo wasn't so lucky, as Paula and Jeff figured out!

The wizard turned and shot at Pit before he could fire another blast! The shot whizzed past Pit's head, and everyone nearby felt their blood run cold, as the blast headed straight for Nepgear! The Candidate had no time to avoid it, as she scrunched her eyes shut tight and she awaited for the oncoming transformation!

But surprisingly, it never came. Instead, an energy construct of a blade came down in front of her and blocked the shot! Nepgear felt something familiar behind her, as she turned to see Neptune had transformed into Purple Heart.

"Neptune!" she said happily, getting a hand placed to her shoulder as she was gently nudged aside. Purple Heart's eyes were overshadowed as a dark aura surrounded her. Everyone was still as a statue (for those turned into eggplants it was all they could do) as Purple Heart floated closer to the ground.

"_**You... dare...**_" she said. "_**Try to turn my sister... INTO A GODDAMN EGGPLANT?!**_"

Her body flared up as she turned into Next Purple, the same energy radiating off of her in a fiery aura! The other CPUs all felt themselves turn back to their base forms as they watched this go down, none of them daring to get in her way. Next Purple's eyes were settled on the Eggplant Wizard, as the enemy in question only nervously looked on, resolved to his fate.

"_**I'LL KILL YOU!**_" Next Purple Screamed, shooting over to the Eggplant Wizard! She grabbed him around the neck, lifting him up into the air! "_**So much as touching you fills me with revulsion! But you die!**_"

She tossed him into the air and flew after him, lifting her sword behind her! "_**Dimensional Slicer**_!" With a single slash, the Eggplant Wizard dissolved into code on the spot, vanishing on the spot!

Next Purple touched down on the ground, slowly turning back into Neptune. "Woah," Pit said, dropping his EZ Cannon. "Lady Neptune's awesome. What did she just do?"

"I shredded every single atom of that disgusting creature," Neptune darkly replied, "utterly removing it from the physical plain. It shall never stain my nation or my people, ever again."

"Now... where can I find Crazy Hand?"

* * *

"Well," IF said, clapping her phone shut, "I'm happy to announce that everyone who was turned into an eggplant has safely been restored."

"Thank Sega!" Neptune said.

"And I'm happy to see that you've been restored too, Neptune," Nepgear said. "You're acting a lot more like your old self after... all that."

"Yeah," Neptune said. "Now that I got out all my pent up negativity by killing that thing, everything just kinda flowed out easy. I'm feelin' good now!"

"Now," Blanc said, turning to a very fidgety hand behind her, "I do recall, Crazy Hand, that we explicitly made it clear you were not to summon any Eggplant Wizards because of Neptune's... condition. And even that Devil Car strikes me as suspicious."

"Well," Crazy Hand said, "I just wanted to make things a bit more interesting, you know? To try and see how you would fair in an unscripted scenario."

"We don't believe that one bit," Noire replied.

"And as such," Blanc said. "I trust this will be the last, and only time you will decide to do something like this, Crazy Hand. Because your other half made it very clear to us that you are to listen to what we say, and any bad behavior on your part is to be reported back to Master Hand and Mr. Sakurai."

"Oh, trust me now," Crazy Hand said, "I won't cause any more trouble. I swear, from here on out, I'll be on my best behavior."

"While I don't necessarily believe that," Blanc said, "I will be sure to hold you to it."

Blanc turned her back on Crazy Hand with her arms crossed, as Crazy Hand vanished in a billow of dark flame-like energy. But as he vanished, out of the flames loomed a large shape over Blanc! Before anybody could warn her, Blanc suddenly found herself in the maw of an Omega Metroid as it swallowed her whole!

Everyone began panicking as they tried to get it to spit her out, the beast easily batting them all aside! That is, until its chest began to lump and swell! Finally, White Heart burst forth with her axe cleaving a massive hole in the beast's chest, causing it to fall over dead!

"Crazy Hand!" she screamed, covered in bodily fluids. Elsewhere, in an ethereal realm, Crazy Hand was laughing like mad as Master Hand gave a defeated sigh at his other half's antics.

* * *

_**A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter.**_

_**Knowing fully well that Neptune is petrified of eggplants, it was impossible for me to not bring over the Eggplant Wizard from the Kid Icarus series to torment the poor goddess. From there, the whole chapter just seemed to grow as if the situation itself was playing out in front of me. It was a lot of fun! XD**_

_**I also had a good bit of fun bringing up a lot of the other enemies from the different Smash series, and pulling up a lot of unfortunate victims from both Fighter and NPC standings. Don't be alarmed, they'll have better treatment in the near future I can assure you. **_

_**And hey, this gave me an excuse to give appearances for the Gold Third and Maker characters not yet seen. More in the future, I can assure you of that as well.**_

_**Overall, I just like this chapter and I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it.**_

_**Also, big news time, the announcement of the next Neptunia game VVVTunia has been announced, and let me tell you, I am STOKED! Not only will this game be made for the 10th Anniversary of the Neptunia series, but also the 25th Anniversary of the series's parent company, Idea Factory (Happy B-day Iffy-chan!) so you know that the game is gonna have awesomeness oozing out of it! At least that's the hope.**_

_**I won't go into great detail about what the game has, as I totally recommend looking it up if you haven't heard of it already, but I will say a few more footnotes:**_

_**1.) While it is a bit of a bummer this isn't the next main series game, according to what we know at least, honestly I don't care. I'm just stoked because I know that a lot of work is going into this to celebrate the anniversaries in question. Plus, the title is in obvious reference to the whole "Victory" trend in the past few main series games. Starting with Victory, then moving to MegaDimension VII (or "Victory II"), so it's clear they think this will be worthy of the name.**_

_**2.) The concept is interesting and I'm very curious about how the different world will be portrayed. While I will admit, returning to the idol idea for the supporting cast from Mewtral, after the debacle that was Producing Perfection, the game at large won't be a rhythm game and it seems more like they're referencing the age of Virtual YouTubers with this idea, so I'm interested to see how it is handled.**_

_**3.) I LOVE the redesigns of the goddesses! I daresay, I like these even more than the designs from Victory! Blanc and Noire look elegant and powerful, Neptune's is positively adorable and easily rivals the classic Parka dress in terms of my favorite design from her. Honestly the only one I was on the fence about at first is Vert, but that was only because she's showing the most skin out of the CPUs, when, ironically, she used to wear among the most conservative clothing of the CPUs while in their base forms, despite revealing the most while HDD. But I still love her design as much as the others, and like Neptune, it's rivaled with her initial look in terms of how much I love it.**_

_**So, yeah, go check out VVVTunia if you haven't heard of it already. There isn't much info about it so far, but I can say with certainty, I am stoked to see how it plays out! And naturally, it gives me hope for the future of Neptunia at large.**_

_**Review Time:**_

_**To ChimaTigon: I thought I pointed that out in the last chapter, but yes, Joker will appear in this! He's my best boi and easily one of my favorite Fighters in Ultimate, so I am definitely going to bring him in. I actually plan on dedicating a chapter to each and every DLC Fighter in the game arriving in Gamindustri, in chronological order, starting with Joker, then Hero, then Banjo & Kazooie, and finally Terry, then whomever appears afterwards. So stay tuned for the chapter introducing Joker real soon!**_

_**To GeneralUrist: I totally understand the situation between Sakurai and CERO. It stinks, but I standby that compromises like what happened with Bayonetta or Palutena can be made. If Sakurai wants a character in the game, no matter who they are, he'd be willing to go to the lengths necessary to get them in. I feel that Mai was just a really unfair situation.**_

_**To ptl: I can definitely see pointing out the past crossover games characters had been a part of. I'm a sucker for games like that in general, not just Smash, and have a particular weak spot for Project X Zone, so I could definitely make reference to it. I could totally see Neptunia involved with the setting of Project X Zone actually, so that's just perfect! XD In addition, I wouldn't be opposed to bringing together my two crossover fics at some point, I would just have no idea how to portray it as of yet, but I could think of something. And definitely, a villain from Neptunia causing shenanigans is a must have in the future.**_

_**And finally, to AngelTheDragon1992: Don't you worry, I already have a plan for where Kirby is going to come into this fic. I love the little guy as much as the next person, so he'll definitely make an entrance I can assure you!**_

_**And for the Guest user recommending suggestions, feel free to just leave me your thoughts whenever! I already have a few more chapters planned in the future, but I'm totally willing to listen to any more suggestions people have, as I'm totally curious as to hear what people think would make for a fun chapter! Be sure to let me know your thoughts and anything else you would like to see!**_

_**Until next time, thank you for reading, have a fantastic evening, and I'll see you all in the next stage!**_


	7. Stage 5: Take Your Heart

**Stage Five: Start!**

More than any other day in the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, held this time around in the beautiful land of Gamindustri, things were bustling about with a heat of activity! Because this was the day that the first additional Fighter was due to arrive. A unique addition to the more recent Smash Tournaments was the concept of a "Starting Roster" of Fighters that would be followed up by additional Fighters in following months.

Last Tourney the Additional Fighters were Ryu, Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta, with returning veterans Roy, Mewtwo, and Lucas also included. This time around, all of them were a part of the "Starting Roster", but there were still several Additional Fighters set to be added to the current set-up. And the first of them would be arriving in Gamindustri momentarily.

Neptune let loose a yawn as the CPUs waited for them. It was much too early for her preference, and it took almost forty-five minutes of convincing or threatening from Nepgear and Noire respectively to get her to properly dress. All she wanted to do was to wake up at her own pace, but here she was, standing in the cold of the morning for the new Fighter.

"Neptune, get into shape!" Blanc said firmly, kicking Neptune in the leg! "You need to look professional for this!"

"Jeez Blanny," Neptune said, rubbing her leg. "Well excuse me for being tired when it's barely five o'clock in the morning!"

"A CPU never rests, Neptune," Vert said coyly.

"Says the shut-in who spends over half her life in an MMO," Noire said bluntly, causing Vert to lay a hand on her head dramatically in defeat.

"Hang up," Blanc said. "They're coming."

A pillar of light cast down as a fairly attractive young man with curly black hair, and a domino mask pulled right out of a masquerade, wearing a long black coat appeared in front of them.

"Greetings and welcome Joker," Blanc greeted. "I am Blanc, the CPU of Lowee. This is Vert: CPU of Leanbox, Noire: CPU of Lastation, and Neptune: CPU of Planeptune. We are the goddesses of Gamindustrii, and as the hosts, we welcome you to the Super Smash Bros. Tournament."

"Sup'?" Joker greeted casually. The others were thrown for a moment by the casual greeting, with Joker merely meeting their gazes with a mischievous grin.

"I like him already," Neptune said.

"You'll have to forgive Joker," a small voice said. The CPUs looked around curiously, before catching sight of a small, anthropomorphic/chibi black cat that climbed his way up Joker's body before settling on his shoulders. "Sarcasm and coyness are his bread and butter."

"Who in the world-?" Noire asked, before being cut off by Neptune's happy noises!

"Oh, he's so cute!" Neptune said.

"Mreow!" the cat said, hiding behind Joker's back.

"Oh, sorry I didn't tell you about him," Joker replied. "This is Morgana. He's my friend and partner. Wherever I go, he goes. Sorry I didn't say this earlier."

"It's fine," Blanc said. "I don't think there's any trouble in that, so long as he behaves."

"I am no simple animal, dear goddess," Morgana replied. "I am an intelligent and understanding creature."

"And aren't you just the cutest little thing?" Neptune said.

"Don't patronize me!" Morgana said.

"Okay, okay," Vert said. "I'm sure they're both tired from their journey, so let's let them get some rest. Neptune, please take them to their room?"

"Okie-dokey-pokey," Neptune said walking past.

Before long, Joker and Morgana were lead to their room by Neptune, who bid them a good day and took off on her own. The Phantom Thieves took stock of their area, before they looked over at the window.

"So," Morgana said, "ready to do some exploring?"

"Of course," Joker said with a sinister smirk.

* * *

Neptune made her way back to the Basilicom, collapsing in her bean bag chair. She had to admit, meeting Joker was pretty worth the wait. He seemed really cool, having an energy that really separated him from other Fighters thus far. But now it was time for some games!

She was still determined to do that SoulLightLocke in Final Nepu Trigger X. She slid over in front of her entertainment center, reaching for her precious baby console inside. Only she came upon a problem.

"Huh?" Neptune wondered, looking around her set-up desperately, the feeling of urgency building steadily more and more as the process continued. The inside of her entertainment center was chock full of different game consoles from generations apart that allowed her to play her myriad of games that settled in the shelves of her bedroom, with a mesh of cables connecting them together sitting in the back of her center.

But as she continued to look at each console's spot, where they each had a proper home of their own that Neptune would work on to keep in crisp clean condition each and every time, she noticed one out of place. Finally, her fear boiled over and she let out a petrified scream!

Nepgear burst through the door, panting and sweating as a sword was gripped in her hand! "Neptune, what's wrong!?"

"My 32X is gone!" Neptune shrieked in horror, before passing out.

* * *

Blanc collapsed on her sofa, laying her face down in the middle of a pillow, Rom and Ram popping up and patting her head and rubbing her back soothingly. Another long day of work was done and dusted, plus her own time having been spent working on her next novel on top of that. Now all she wanted to do was melt into a puddle on her couch with a book in her hand.

"Rom?" she asked. "Can you grab my book from my room? My favorite one?"

"Sure thing," Rom said meekly, running off as Ram continued petting her head. A minute or so passed, before Rom finally came back, looking somewhat nervous.

"Uh... s-sis?" she said. "I can't find it."

"What?" Blanc asked, slightly irritated.

"I tried looking in your favorite spots," Rom said, "but I don't know where it is!"

"Let me look!" Ram said, rushing to Blanc's room with Rom in hot pursuit. Another minute or two passed as Blanc merely continued to lay on the sofa, until the twins returned, only this time Ram looked nervous.

"Uh... yeah, Blanc?" she said. "We can't find it. Like, anywhere."

"What?" Blanc said irritably, getting up and going ot her room herself. She looked in any conceivable place she thought it could be, her panic surrounded by heaps of anger flooding her conscious as she looked everywhere! But it was to no avail. Her favorite book was nowhere to be found!

She stared at the ceiling, rage slowly boiling over as the sound of a kettle steaming could be heard! The twins rushed away as fast as they could, knowing that this was the one situation you really did not stoke Blanc's fire! Finally, it got to be too much and she exploded!

"SOMEBODY WANTS ME TO KILL THEM!"

* * *

Vert eased back in her seat, a cup of tea still steaming in her hand as she wheeled herself over to her desk. She had really poured on the sugar today in convincing different Fighters or Makers to agree with her to ensure that things continued moving like clockwork today. She knew she might definitely have to reward some of the more gentlemanly sorts like Shulk, or Robin, or Marth, and even a few of those Assist characters like Alucard and Zero for their good behavior and helping to keep the process moving along.

But for now, she was more focused on a good old fashioned game of Four Goddesses Online X(Cross): Victory Sister Generation. She opened up her file, but realized something was wrong. The update scans she had gotten to allow her the new Legion campaign was not registering. What would have been some of her best itetms and spells were totally missing!

She looked around her desk for a moment, attempting to find the game disc. She hadn't totally saved the files to her harddrive yet, so she kept the disc in the event a glitch like this were to occur. But she couldn't find it! Even the box was nowhere to be found!

She left her game room and searched everywhere in her bedroom just to triple check! But no matter where she looked she couldn't find it anywhere! Finally, she got to the point where she collapsed in the middle of the floor in defeat!

"No," she uttered. Only to throw her head to the ceiling and lift her hands with a massive, "Nooooo!"

* * *

Noire shut the door firmly behind her, locking it for good measure. A devious smile was on her face as she thought of the prospects of what was to come next. The day's jobs were all done and dusted, now was the time for her to do what she loved.

Little known fact only to those closest to her, or those that had the foolish decision to spy on her, Noire was an adamant cosplayer. True, cosplayers tended to exist so people could see them, but she preferred doing this privately since she was far too shy to let anyone in on it.

All the same, Noire loved dressing up whenever she could. And there was one costume that she loved wearing more than any other! She looked through her private wardrobe that she kept hidden in her office, shifting through the diffferent outfits she had. However, when she reached the hangar that kept her favorite costume, she had her eyes widen in surprise. "Huh?" she wondered.

The costume was nowhere to be found. She went through each and every hangar for good measure, but sure enough, found that the costume was nowhere to be seen! She carefully put everything back where they were, before she left the office and made her way for her bedroom. Perhaps she absentmindedly put it with her other clothes.

She looked and looked throughout her room, but no matter how hard she searched, she saw nothing! No sign of her favorite outfit! "Hey Uni!" she called. "Have you seen my favorite cosplay suit?"

"Nope," Uni replied from her room. "Haven't seen it!"

Noire hurriedly made her way back to the office, looking everywhere she could think of! This wasn't something that she would just leave anywhere at all. This was not only one of her secret cosplay outfits, but the one she held above all others. Where would she leave it?

But that's when she felt a cold chill go down her spine. She really wouldn't leave it anywhere at all. Which meant that somebody must have taken it.

She clenched her fist in rage! "This sleight will cost them their life!" she screamed.

* * *

The four CPUs all gathered up once more at the Planeptune Basilicom, discussing the facts. At first they were under the impression that they had taken each other's items, with Noire convinced Neptune took her costume due to their typical rivalry, Vert convined Blanc took her game disc because of the numerous occasions that Vert tended to mess with her, Blanc convinced Vert took her book for very much the same reason, and Neptune convinced Noire took her console in a vain attempt to get her to work more. But sure enough, they discovered that this wasn't the case at all. Because it wasn't just them who were suffering.

Reports were flooding in all day from Fighters reporting that many of their items were being taken from them.

Lucina lost her version of the Falchion.

Sonic lost the Chaos Emeralds.

Kirby lost his Warp Star.

Simon lost his version of the Vampire Killer.

Ryu lost his knap sack.

Link lost a a notebook he got from Zelda.

Shulk lost his sketchpad.

The Pokemon Trainer, Red, lost his Pokedex.

Mario lost his hat, right off his head mind you!

Even their sisters had gotten swindled. Uni lost an ammo cartridge Noire had given her that she carved with a special mark to remember it by, Rom and Ram lost a shared picture book they got from Blanc, and Nepgear lost a photo between her, Neptune, and Uzume after the MegaDimension adventure.

This was all too much. Any lingering doubt the goddesses might have had that it was secretly one of them was gone by this point. Because none of them would be cruel enough to steal from the Candidates. But that left the question, if it wasn't one of them, who was it?

"Clearly, somebody must really want to cause trouble," Blanc said.

"But who?" Neptune asked.

"What about that Joker fellow?" Vert asked. "He only just showed up today, and this is the first time something like this has happened."

"I don't know Vert," Blanc replied. "You said it yourself, this is his first day here. Do you really think that he would just-"

Suddenly, Blanc stopped talking and even halted in place, the others nearly walking right past her. "Uh, Blanc?" Neptune asked.

"Thief," Blanc said quietly.

"Come again?" Vert asked.

"He's a thief," Blanc replied.

"I thought you were just saying he couldn't have done it?" Neptune asked.

"No, he's literally a thief," Blanc replied. "He's the leader of a group known as the Phantom _Thieves _of Heart! I read it on his dossier! How could I have been so blind!?"

"Well, what do we do now?" Neptune asked.

"Now?" Blanc replied. She suddenly pulled out her hammer with enough force to crack the pavement beneath her! "Now we go connect that guy's head to his own ass!"

* * *

"Nothing yet?" Morgana asked.

"Nothing," Joker replied, tossing the last thing he had to the pile of junk. "I'm guessing that none of these guys have the capacity to create a Palace. Which is all the better for us."

"You think we should've told them about this?" Morgana asked.

"Why do you ask?" Joker replied.

Next moment, there was a knock on the door, before it was suddenly blown inward with Blanc in full Rage Mode-Engage Mode standing on the other side! "No reason," Morgana finished.

A cursory glance at the room told Blanc full well that Joker was in fact the one responsible for stealing everything, as there was a large pile of things sitting right beside his bed. The Thief in question stood tall, backing up fretfully as Blanc stalked inside.

"You've got three and a half seconds to explain yourself," she said.

"W-woah there!" Joker said nervously. "Would you kill me if I said I had the best intentions?"

"I might," Blanc replied, "lest I find those intentions to be of the life or death sort."

"Hang on a minute!" Noire replied. "I've got a bit of a connection with this guy, so let's let him explain himself."

"Same," Neptune said. "Let's hear him out."

"Okay, talk," Blanc said.

"Listen." Joker said. "In my world, I deal with things called Shadows. The ones I deal with are born from people who have made a 'Palace', or a world based on their corrupt thoughts and negative emotions. I was just making sure that nobody has a Palace here! And I did that by looking through everyone's most cherished items. Things that literally become a piece of their hearts, which double as the core of a Palace in the event one is created!"

"Is that true?" Vert asked.

"Yeah," Joker replied. "Bear in mind, I didn't really presume that anybody would have a Palace, I was just being safe, rather than sorry."

"Joker, be honest with me," Noire replied, "you were just doing this because you couldn't help yourself and had a habitual habit to steal, right?"

... "Yeah, yeah I did," Joker replied.

"Well, at least you had the best of intentions," Neptune replied, "so we can forgive you. But..."

Suddenly, in flashes of dark light, both Neptune and Noire had transformed into Purple Heart and Black Heart! "We're still going to have to punish you for this sleight!" Black Heart said grimly.

"Oh... no..." Joker said.

"About time to bust out Sataniel?" Morgana asked.

"I don't think I'm going to have the chance," Joker replied.

"In that case," Morgana said, "I'm just gonna book it while I can, because let it be noted that this was your idea, not mine."

* * *

"Okay, last of em'!" Joker said, holding his bag of stolen goods in front of him. For the past hour, a battered and bleeding Joker was dragging himself across Planeptune, returning all the items he had stolen from the different Fighters. Now he was just about finished, with the only ones left to go being the CPUs and CPU Candidates.

"Nepgear, here's your photo. Uni, here's your cartridge. Rom and Ram, here's your picture book."

Each Candidate clapped and cheered as they had their favorite things returned. "We apologize again for our rash actions," Morgana said. "It wasn't the best idea."

"It's okay Mr. Cat," Rom said. "We forgive you."

"Please don't call me that," Morgana said. "My name is Mor-agh!"

Morgana suddenly got scooped up into Ram's arms as she clutched the oddity close! "So soft!" she giggled.

"Release me right now!" Morgana demanded.

"And finally, you four," Joker said, turning to the goddesses.

"Vert, here's your game."

"Much obliged," Vert said, carefully taking the box and ensuring the disc was inside.

"Neptune, your console."

"Oh my sweet baby!" Neptune said, hugging the console close. "We'll never be apart again!"

"Blanc, your book."

Blanc merely sighed contentedly as she clutched her book to her chest.

"And Noire, your... whatever this is."

Noire took the costume contained in the bag carefully, which looked like nothing more than three pieces of fabric and a tail. In a second it quickly became apparent to all parties present from the label on the tag that it was supposed to be a costume of Felicia from Darkstalkers.

"Do we want to know why you have that?" Neptune asked. "Or why it's supposed to be your favorite thing?"

"I... I just like the feeling, okay?" Noire replied.

"You exhibitioni-ai!" Neptune said, getting a pair of nails shoved into her esophagus!

"Once again, I'm sorry," Joker replied. "I promise, it won't happen again."

"I should hope so," Blanc said, checking for any wrinkled pages, "otherwise I may need to call Master Hand to complain about your selection."

For the next day or two, however, Joker did appear to hold to his word. Morgana, who had struck the goddesses as being more responsible than his friend, had been trusted to keep an eye on him, and was reporting regularly to them. Even still, for his first match, the CPUs chose to set him up with a team just to make sure he would take care of himself.

His team had won, and later, Noire spotted him leaving the arena with Robin and Lucina. "You did well out there Joker," Robin said. "I look forward to seeing you fight on your own."

"Thank you," Joker replied, before turning his gaze to the princess beside him. "And I must say, I think you did exceptionally well, Lucina."

"Hm?" Lucina said curiously. "Well, this is far from my first match, Joker."

"Even still," Joker said, "your skills with a blade are as gorgeous as a dance. Perhaps we can team up again soon."

He gripped Lucina's hand, the Princess blushing at his gentlemanly behavior. For good measure, he sent a wink to a confused and rather flustered Robin that he left in his wake, informing the mage that he had competition.

"Well," Noire said, "looks like he's not quite done stealing hearts."

* * *

_**A/N: And the best boi arrives! I'll be real, while I hadn't played Persona 5 when Joker was first announced for Smash Ultimate, I was familiar with Persona by that point and was ecstatic to have a rep in there. And now that I've gone through much of P5 by this point, I can totally respect the choice to have him there, and am happy to report that he has since become one of my mains in SSBU. (For those wondering my top Fighters I play personally are: Joker, Corrin, Chrom, Ridley, Sonic.)**_

_**Anywho, I had fun writing this chapter. I knew I wanted to do something where I dedicated a chapter to introducing each DLC Challenger, and Joker gave me a bit of fun in terms of plotting it out. Having him stealing peoples' favorite things was just too much fun, particularly when the CPUs have some of their favorite things gipped. I also teased a bit about people shipping Lucina with Joker at the end there just for funsies. Either way, expect to see da best boi making numerous appearances to come, as well as my promise of having the other Phantom Thieves chilling in Gamindustri.**_

_**Review Time!:**_

_**To ptl: Yes. Segata must appear, and I will definitely bring the champion here in the future I can promise you. I'm thinking I may end up doing some spin-off or other about the Smash Fighters crossing over with the entirety of the Project X Zone cast, since like I mentioned before I feel like the Neptunia series would blend very well into the world of X Zone and I'm rather surprised there hasn't been more out there.**_

_**To ChimaTigon: I am familiar with the Shin Godzilla mod you're talking about, which belongs predominantly with Project M from what I understand, and it looks so good! While I could never picture Godzilla in Smash, I gotta give credit where it's due to the creators of that mod, it looks sick.**_

_**And to flitterflux: I already had plans for a chapter much like the one you described, but I can tell you I'm kicking myself for not bringing K-Sha into it, so I will definitely adjust it accordingly. Thx!**_

_**In any case, thank you as always for reading. And I hope we can collectively look forward to this year's Game Awards and the potential for hearing what the next DLC rep in Smash is set to be. Have a wonderful evening and I'll see you in the next one.**_


	8. Stage 6: Deus Ex Machina

**Emergency Nepstation Report:**

"Greetings dear viewers! We interrupt this Stage of SmashDimension Neptunia: Ultimate to bring you an emergency news bulletin. I'm your host Neptune, CPU of Planeptune and overall best protagonist/girl/goddess."

"Tragedy struck as our Author has contracted a severe illness after watching this year's Game Awards and discovering he would not see the 5th DLC Fighter for Smash Ultimate announced. While he did see cool stuff like a new trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake, another trailer for No More Heroes III, Bravely Default II, and even a performance by Green Day, it was not enough to keep him from tumbling over the edge as the severe weight of disappointment came crashing down on his innocent skull."

"My fellow CPUs and I have been taking care of him with things such as snacks and headpats. Namely me. Do not take this to misunderstand that he does not understand the Game Awards is more than just a Smash announcement and he respects it for what it is, he is just a bit bummed out, as were other people not just over Smash, but just from the other announcements that happened there. I mean, the Rise of Skywalker Fortnite stuff is really what made him projectile vomit."

"Though thankfully with numerous watchings of the Castlevania cartoon, he should make a speedy recovery. We now return you to your regularly scheduled (and by that I mean spontaneous) stage."

* * *

**Stage Six: Start!**

Despite his constant need for running and adventure, Sonic was never one to turn down a good nap whenever he was feeling tired. And what was better than a good old fashioned nap? A nap where you cuddled with some good friends.

That's what Sonic was feeling now as he held Kirby under one arm and Pikachu under the other. Compa giggled nearby, sitting in a chair next to the sofa where Sonic and the others were sleeping, as she stroked Pikachu's head lovingly. The mouse-like Pokemon squeaked in delight, nuzzling up to Sonic's chest even more.

IF came over with a cup of coffee for both her and Compa as she sat in another chair with her friend next to the sofa. Essentially, while Neptune was out overseeing the next match in the tournament, the two of them plus Sonic were left to house-sit the Basilicom. And IF had to admit, she was happy to see just how faithful Sonic truly was.

Despite the fact that he had no real reason to remain there and do these things, he showed that he was especially caring for Neptune as the perpetually running character chose to remain in place and make sure Neptune and Nepgear's home remained in good condition. It really did show why he labelled Neptune as "his" goddess all the time.

And as such things go, the peace and serenity for the time being was rudely interrupted as Mega Man burst down the door and slammed it shut behind him, pinning up against it with his body! IF nearly spilled hot coffee all over herself as Pikachu woke up so startled he lightly shocked both Sonic and Kirby, causing them to get a rude awakening! Compa was the only one who didn't seem the least bit startled as she greeted Mega Man with a kindly, "hello Mega Man. Care for some coffee?"

Sonic reacted to the other blue colored mascot in the room, rubbing his eyes to get the remaining sleep away. "Hey Rock, what's up?" he asked.

"Who did it?" Mega Man asked, a panicked expression on his face.

"Huh?" IF asked, wiping her hands of coffee that had gotten on it from her near spillage. "Who did what?"

"Who told Nepgear that I was a robot!?" Mega Man demanded.

Sonic looked away with an awkward expression on his face. "Uh..." he said nervously.

"Why!?" Mega Man said.

"Hey! It just slipped out, okay!?" Sonic asked. "Of course I know that Nepgear is tech crazy, so I couldn't help but mention that so many of my friends, including ones here in the Tourney, are robots!"

"You've condemned me to death!" Mega Man replied.

"Calm down now," IF said, standing up and giving a placating gesture. "So, what if Nepgear knows you're a robot? She just wants to study you, right?"

"Yes," Mega Man replied.

"So what's the problem?" IF asked.

"Exactly," Compa replied. "She studied ROB not to long ago too."

"Well ROB's almost built to be taken apart," Mega Man replied. "Plus, he's fairly basic in processing, no offense intended. I'm a little more... complicated."

"What's the worst that could happen?" IF asked.

Suddenly a bladed, rapidly spinning device was shoved right through the door next to Mega Man's head! "Mega Man!" Nepgear's eager voice said on the other side. "I know you're in there! Please let me take you apart! Just for a little while! I want to analyze you!" She punctuated with a giggle that couldn't help but sound terrifying at the moment.

As the blade was retracted, Mega Man dove forward before it could stab him literally in the back upon its second entry! "If you won't let me study you face to face," Nepgear said, "I can study you through the door!"

"Okay..." IF said, slightly disturbed. "Maybe I was wrong."

"Seriously!" Mega Man said, jumping up next to IF. "What is wrong with her!?"

"Whenever Nepgear goes tech crazy," Sonic replied, rubbing his eyes, "she can't help herself. It took Neptune and I a full six hours to get her to stop from an attempt at infusing a gear (a literal one, not her, stay with me) with Neptune's Shares in an attempt at getting more people around the globe to feign loyalty and start liking Neptune more and essentially enslave practically the entire population of the dimension."

"What the fu-?!" Mega Man said, before he heard, "Oh! The door is open!"

"Oh no!" Mega Man said, leaping behind the couch!

IF, Compa, Pikachu, and even Kirby looked nervously as Nepgear pushed the door open. She was holding some three pronged tool that looked like an unholy love-child between a drill, saw, and claw. She turned it on and it became nothing more than an undulating blur of silver once more.

The group all huddled around the couch in an attempt to shield Mega Man from the oncoming storm. The only one who seemed not remotely concerned was Sonic, who was looking at Nepgear with casual eyes. "Hey, Nep Jr., what's up?" he greeted.

"Oh, hi Sonic!" Nepgear said. "Your friend is amazing! I never even knew he was a robot until you told me about it! And now, I want to see what he's like! How he can do all the things he can! Perhaps I can finally perfect my synthetic heroes and safeguard Planeptune with the power that he-!"

"That is great Nepgear," Sonic said, dauntlessly stepping in front of her, "but to be frank with you, you are greatly concerning my friend right now with your behavior, and to be honest, even I'm somewhat disturbed by looking at you as you are now. So for the sake of your mental health, I'm gonna ask you to put the tool down and just listen to what I have to say."

"What?" Nepgear asked. "But-but your friend! He's right here, I know he is! I have to take him apart piece by piece and analyze the machinations of his being!"

"No you do not," Sonic replied. "What you have to do now, is calm down, listen to me, and put the tool down."

"But he's-!" Nepgear said, but that was when Sonic lost his patience.

"Put the tool down!" he yelled. Nepgear let out a frightened noise as she turned off the tool and put it down on the floor. She folded her hands in front of her waist as she stood in front of Sonic with her face aimed at the ground.

"Kick it over to me," Sonic said. Nepgear did as told as Sonic kicked the tool further behind him, IF hastily picking it up and keeping it far out of reach of the CPU Candidate.

"Good," Sonic said. "Now then, like I said, your tech-crazed rantings and obvious attempts at murder have greatly frightened Mega Man. Now, I want you to apologize to him."

"But I was just-" Nepgear said sadly.

"Apologize!" Sonic snapped.

"I'm sorry!" Nepgear said.

"Let's try that again," Sonic said. "Think very hard about how you made him feel. You wanted to take him apart without his permission to do so. To him, it looked as if you were basically trying to kill him. Keep that in mind, and try apologizing again."

Nepgear was silent for a moment, before nodding her head. "I'm sorry Mega Man," she said.

"I-it's okay," Mega Man said quietly, still hiding behind the couch.

"Now then," Sonic said, "you are not to try 'analyzing' Mega Man any longer. Or any other such robotic being like Zero or Gray Fox. Understand me?"

Nepgear looked as if she were a puppy that had just gotten kicked! "But he's-!" she began, before Sonic stomped on the ground.

"No more!" he said firmly. Nepgear made the defeated sound again as she aimed her head at the ground again in defeat!

"Now go to your room," Sonic said, "and think about how bad you've been."

Nepgear slumped over into a curved shape as she dragged herself to her room, utterly decimated. Sonic took a breath, appearing quite tired after that whole ordeal. As he turned around, he saw both Compa and IF looking at him with rather impressed expressions.

"Yes, can I help you?" he wondered.

"Wow," IF said. "I'll admit, I never saw that coming."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"You totally acted like a disciplining parent back there," Compa replied.

"Well," Sonic replied, "it wouldn't be the first time I've had to do that."

* * *

Several Years Earlier:

* * *

"Hey Tails," Sonic called as he reentered Tails's workshop. "Do you remember where we put the 32DS that Neptune gave us? We were going to go for a game of - huh?!"

He found a toddler sized Nepgear holding a _different _drill-like device directly to Omega's head, as the former Super Badnik held her in the air, away from his head, with both hands! "Sonic!" he said. "Thank goodness you're here! This small creature has attempted to kill me but I don't have the capacity to destroy it!"

"Give her here!" Sonic said. "But be careful to be-!" Before he could finish, Omega tossed her directly at Sonic! "Gentle!" Sonic yelled, leaping up to catch Nepgear before she crashed into a wall lined with sharp tools or possibly hurt herself with the one she was already holding!

"My apologies," Omega replied. "But I was feeling severely threatened."

Sonic rolled his eyes as he firmly took the tool from Nepgear's hand. She whined dramatically as Sonic held it away and looked at her. "Listen Nep Jr.," he said, "you can't just go pulling random tools on robots whenever you want, okay? Some like Omega have minds of their own, and might take strong offense to this."

Nepgear merely pouted firmly, as Sonic picked her up, lugging her over her shoulder and marched outside to have a word with her older sister. Omega was watching her go, appearing to be laughing smugly at her disempowered state.

* * *

"Sorry to say," Sonic replied, "but after awhile I had to give up on trying to get her to stop pulling tools on sentient machines and instead just had to make sure she never hurt anybody or attempt to inadvertently take over the galaxy."

"Dang," Compa said. "You're such a good dad, Sonic!"

Sonic promptly began choking on his coffee, IF on standby to do CPR if she had to while he slowly recovered. "I am not a father!" he said. "She just... ugh! I can't help but want to look after the little thing is all."

"Neptune's my goddess, but she never bothers trying to keep her sister in check on the rare occasions she does get out of line. I've been there for her for a long time. She just... kinda reminds me of Tails back when he was little."

"I can see that," IF said, taking a sip of her own drink.

Speaking of Neptune, she happened to come back in the next moment. "Hey all! We're back~!"

"Hey Nep-Nep," Compa greeted. "How did the match go?"

"Eh, it was cool!" Neptune replied. "But look who I bumped into on the way back!"

The next moment, Sonic got the shock of his life as he saw an older version of Neptune enter the room. She looked just like her, save for longer hair, an overall larger build, and a black parka jacket in place of Neptune's white one, with matching d-pad hair clips.

"Oh my dear sweet Chaos in heaven, what am I even looking at!?" he demanded.

"This is the version of me from another dimension!" Neptune explained happily. "I call her Big Nep!"

"Yup!" Big Nep replied. "And unlike the smaller version of me over here, I'm not a CPU."

"Not... a CPU?" Sonic asked. "So you're...?"

"Yup! I'm 100% Grade A human!" Big Nep replied.

Sonic felt his eye twitching involuntarily, as he promptly got up firmly from the table. "Nope," he said. "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope," he chanted as he made his way for the door, past both Neps.

"Woah, wait, Sonic! Where're you going!?" Neptune asked.

"Not my goddess! So I don't want to deal with it!" Sonic said firmly.

"Oh come on, Sonic!" Neptune said. "It's not like she's steppin' on your turf or whatever! It's not what it looks like!"

"Eff this crap I'm out! Eff this crap I'm out, no thanks!" Sonic sang.

Neptune hung her head in defeat as Sonic danced his way out of the building. Big Nep merely looked confused as she offered a shrug to IF and Compa. "Was it something I said?" she wondered. Compa merely laughed as IF took another sip of her coffee.

* * *

_**A/N: And there we have it! I just couldn't help but snicker on the idea of Sonic looking up to Neptune so faithfully, so I had to do a chapter like this, particularly with Nepgear involved too.**_

_**That was another can of worms there, with Nepgear wanting to "analyze" Mega Man just being one of the many ideas that just popped into my head and I had to write it out. I felt that Sonic would end up being big brother watching Nepgear and keeping her from destroying poor souls like Mega Man or Omega on the off chance she went into a fit, and it just made me laugh.**_

_**Also, for those of you wondering how Nepgear could be a baby while Sonic was alive... what, are you writing a book or something?**_

_**Also, I don't know why, but I also feel Sonic would be strongly offended at seeing someone like Big Nep just... exist, so I had to throw that in there for good measure. While he has no real issues with Uzume or Plutia (for those that remember Stage 1, you'll know he has a kinship with Uzume) Neptune will always be Sega Goddess #1 in his eyes, so the idea there is one out there who is **_**not _that, is something he can't stand to consider._**

**_Not much else to say, this Stage was just one of my favorites to write, I liked the characterization I did, and I can only hope you enjoyed it too._**

**_Review Time:_**

**_For ChimaTigon: I may try something like that, only if people want it. In my head, I'm sticking purely with video game originating characters, and Godzilla is obviously a movie character first, hence he'd never get in Smash any under circumstance. But I do agree the CPUs' reactions would be hilarious._**

**_For Neptunia56: Yes, the other KOF characters will definitely be featured. I don't intend to have them in the same chapter, as I already plotted out Terry's introduction chapter, but it'd be a crime against nature for me to not have them featured at some point in the future with the sheer number of those that are featured in the King of Fighters' Stadium stage alone. Just to clarify now, any characters from the games the DLC characters come from can totally be included, there's no reason they wouldn't be. So characters like the other Phantom Thieves, Mumbo or Bottles from Banjo-Kazooie, the other King of Fighters or Dragon Quest characters, etc. They can all appear at some point in cameos or larger capacities._**

**_And for the guest user who left numerous suggestions, I love all those ideas and I totally appreciate it. And yes, I totally agree that Segata may try to murder Blanc at some point, so let's just hope the others can save her. Keep the suggestions coming, and expect some Stages dedicated to them in the future. I have a lot more Stages I made ahead of time lined up in the future, but I will totally try out some of the suggestions soon._**

**_Thank you all for reading, let me know what you all think, and until next time - Nep Out!_**


	9. Stage 7: Iris Incident

**Stage Seven: Start!**

The unique fact about the CPU of Planeptune, is the fact that there were actually different ones in multiple different dimensions. Something that Neptune understood, thanks to her franchise, was there were different versions of her in different Planeptunes, but she had directly gone to two different variations of Planeptune that were lead by totally different people than her.

The most recent she'd met, somebody who had become remarkably close to her in recent days, was Uzume Tennouboshi; CPU of Planeptune in the Zero Dimension. However, this was understandable as to why Planeptune was lead by somebody different. Because all other CPUs had been annihilated in the post apocalyptic landscape which was now ravaged by Dark CPUs. Ergo, Uzume was not just the CPU of Planeptune, but more like the only goddess of Gamindustri as a whole.

But the first CPU of Planeptune Neptune met that was not her, was Plutia, CPU of Planeptune in the Ultra Dimension. CPUs in the Ultra Dimension functioned far differently than CPUs in the "Hyper Dimension" where Neptune and the others lived; wherein they were humans that ascended to godhood and were not born goddesses like the Hyper Dimension CPUs. There were different versions of Noire, Vert, and Blanc that all became CPUs of their respective nations, it was just a luck of the draw that Plutia became the CPU of Planeptune in place of Neptune.

Neptune had actually met her human counterpart from the Ultra Dimension, who had since grown older from her human genes than Neptune physically appeared now. (That human which Sonic was still purposefully avoiding for some reason.) Either way, the CPUs of Planeptune from all three dimensions became close friends with one another. More like sisters in their own right.

This is what ultimately lead to Uzume and Plutia coming to the Hyper Dimension version of Gamindustri in order to help with hosting the Super Smash Bros. Tournament. Since that time, they had certainly taken a large amount of the workload off. Well, with the exception of Plutia.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Neptune chanted, hopping on top of the bed in the Planeptune Basilicom she had permitted Plutia to use in the time she stayed for the Tournament. The sleeping Ultra Dimension CPU was doing everything in her power to keep asleep during her stay, which Neptune was not going to have!

"Come on Plutie!" Neptune said. "It's time for work!"

"But I'm so comfy," Plutia whined.

"Well you didn't come here to stay comfy, did you?" Neptune asked.

"No~" Plutia replied.

"That's right!" Neptune said, swiping a pillow as she hopped down on the floor. "You came to help with the Tournament! So let's! Get! Going!" she said, smacking Plutia with the pillow each time!

Plutia mewled like a kitten as she sat up, Neptune dragging her along behind by the hand. The other CPUs knew fully well of Plutia's drowsy nature, and as such, mostly set her working along with Nepgear and Uni for caring for the Fighters in their rooms, rather than doing something requiring a lot more labor like relocating items or stage management, or something more thought provoking like a lot of the behind the scenes development and organization.

The only problem therein, was ensuring that Plutia behaved herself. Nepgear and Uni said that they would do their parts to make sure Plutia was on her best behavior, and Plutia swore she wouldn't mess with anyone, but there was only so much that could be done to prevent her... "Sadie" side form rearing her beautiful yet emotionally scarring head.

But, to the surprise of pretty much every Gamindustri resident, most if not all the Fighters that Plutia went to had glowing reviews for her care. Normally the other goddesses would take this as a positive occurrence, but they were just wondering (and dreading) when the other shoe would drop. Simply because, Plutia was incapable of helping herself.

She was too childlike for her own good, merely doing things if they made her happy. And since she, as Iris Heart, was far too dangerous for anybody to withstand, the other goddesses were unable to stop her if she _really _wanted something. They were sure that when one thing lead to another, where one Fighter either annoyed her too much, or she got to _like _too much, Iris Heart would be unleashed and all hell would break loose.

"I don't like it," Blanc voiced one morning while sitting in a Planeptune cafe.

"Well excuse me for trying!" Ike replied, taking it as her referring to his cooking.

"Not that! Your food is fine!" Blanc replied, before adding, "although I will admit, your potatoes are a little bit under," which caused Ike to facepalm.

"I mean," Blanc said, "I don't like how calm Plutia is acting lately."

"What do you mean?" Ike asked, looking at the girl in question as she was cuddling all of the smaller Pokemon. "Isn't she always like that?"

"About 50% of the time," Blanc replied, "or if we can help it, about 75%."

"What's the other twenty-five look like?" Ike asked.

"Something you should hope you never have to witness," Blanc replied.

Ike was naturally afraid by that description. He already knew full well after numerous beratings from Blanc, the goddesses could be incredibly scary. And it was an even more terrifying prospect if it were to come from somebody as unassuming as Plutia.

A whistle from nearby caught their attention, prompting the two to look over to find Plutia had suddenly dropped asleep, now being picked up by Olimar's Pikmin. Olimar whistled again, turning on his heel, the Pikmin following his motions. Then with repeated whistles, Olimar marched away with the Pikmin carrying Plutia right behind him.

Sad to say, but something like this was a fairly average occurrence. After about half a dozen tasks were completed, the Fighters would find Plutia having fallen asleep in any number of random places where she made herself comfortable. One of the most bizarre was when Captain Falcon found her propped up against the old sandbag which she somehow managed to tug off of its chain on the ceiling, using like a pillow.

Ike couldn't help but give a good natured laugh at the sight. It honestly brought him back to his old way of thinking that Plutia was incapable of hurting a fly. Blanc on the other hand could only sigh, knowing full well that he was being far too naive.

* * *

"Good golly, sweet molly, Lady Plutia," Pit said, combing a brush through Plutia's impossibly long hair. "How do you even manage this on your own?"

"Lots of patience and practice~" Plutia replied. "Also Histy helps me~"

"That explains it," Pit said. He finished brushing her hair, and tied it up into its massive braid. Once he was done, Plutia surprised him by spinning around and hugging him by the waist, nuzzling her head into his chest.

"You're so nice Pitty~" she said. "I can see why Lady Palutena likes you so much."

"Oh, thanks Lady Plutia!" Pit said happily.

Plutia laughed again as she sat back around, finishing up the stitches for the plush dolls she had been working on. Upon remembering Plutia's affectionate hobby of making plush dolls for people she liked, she was assigned by the other goddesses to construct plush dolls for the Inklings as a means to keep them in line. Plutia was all for doing it, and the Inklings were appropriately pleased by the prospects of having expertly made plush versions of themselves to trade around, which helped to keep them out of trouble while the dolls were being made.

Plutia had Pit come over to the Planeptune Basilicom to help her out. Pit thought she'd have him help with making the dolls, but as it turns out, she really just had him groom her hair while she worked. Well aware of her own narcoleptic attitude, Plutia knew she wouldn't be able to complete her basic hygiene and make the dolls in one day, so she had him do her hair while she worked on the dolls.

Pit didn't mind. He was more than willing to help in any way he could. Upon arriving in Gamindustri, Pit had effectively assigned each of the CPUs every amount of respect that he gave Lady Palutena, reminding himself constantly that they were goddesses and should be treated as such. (Viridi was an exception, though, because they were enemies and she overall just continued treating him like garbage despite, for the time being at least, they had ceased their fights.)

From the kitchen, Nepgear and Lucas came in with a tray of tea that they had been making. Lucas had been called over for something by Plutia, so while she was working, he decided to help Nepgear with making the tea.

"Thanks for waiting!" Nepgear said. "We're finished with the tea."

"Yay~ Thank you Neppy Jr." Plutia said.

Nepgear laughed as she left Plutia's cup on top of a nearby foot stool. "And Pit," Nepgear said, taking a seat beside him, "here are some cookies that were sent to the Basilicom I know you'll just love!"

"Really?" Pit asked eagerly. "Wow! Thanks Nepgear!"

Despite the manner in which Palutena had described why Nepgear and Pit should be great friends, the angel in question couldn't deny that she was right. Nepgear and Pit had really attached to one another upon meeting each other. They both could often relate to one another about the shenanigans of their benefactors (in Pit's case, Palutena, and in Nepgear's case, her sister.) and many other things in life, like their passions and adventures.

"Lucas," Plutia said, hiding something behind her back, "I have something for you~"

The boy in question looked up at the CPU as she knelt in front of him, before surprising him with a doll that she made of him! "Here you go!" she said happily. "I made this for you!"

Lucas took the doll with wide eyes, staring at it in amazement. "And in case you get lonely," Plutia added, "I made these too!" She then pulled out plush versions of Kumatora, Boney, and Duster!

Lucas took them all with an enamored expression on his face! "Thank you! Thank you!" he said, hugging her tight! He waved to her with a half dozen more thanks, as he made his way out of the Basilicom.

"Plutia!" Nepgear laughed. "At this rate, you're never going to be finished with the Inkling dolls! You've made dolls of almost every Fighter by this point!"

While it was a bit of an exaggeration, she wasn't lying when she said that Plutia really hadn't been able to help herself in making plush dolls of quite a number of people. Already she created plush versions of all the Fire Emblem heroes (Lucina was particularly happy with hers), plush versions of the Pokemon Trainer's teams (sets for Red and Green each), a plush version of Luigi for Daisy and a Mario one for Peach, and she even created a plush version of pretty much every friend that Isabelle listed off!

"But Jr.~" Plutia said, "I can't help it~ I wanna make everybody happy!"

"I know Plutia," Nepgear said, "and we all love you for it!"

"What was Lucas so excited about?" Link asked, entering the room with a bag thrown over his shoulder.

"Oh," Pit replied, "Plutia made dolls of him and his friends."

"Really?" Link asked. "Well that was very nice of her."

"Have you met Plutia?" Pit asked. "It'd be hard for you to get her to _not _make a doll of somebody."

"He's right~" Plutia replied.

Link gave a laugh. He was warned well ahead of time of Plutia's more... devious side by Blanc, and even had memories of a past life where he had met her once, and was rather astonished by what he witnessed. So suffice is to say he knew how dangerous she was.

"So," Nepgear added, "did you bring everything?"

"Yup," Link replied, holding the bag out to her. "There should theoretically be enough in there to prepare the meal you have planned. Though when I bumped into Palutena on the way here she was still rather miffed about the fact that you didn't invite her to help cook."

"After the story Pit told me," Nepgear replied, "I don't think it would be safe for anybody in Planeptune... or all of Gamindustri to let her anywhere near a stove."

"She's right," Pit added.

"If you say so," Link said, putting the bag down in the kitchen.

As he left, Dark Pit, who was standing in the doorway, found himself revealed to the others. "Oh hey Pittoo," Pit said, "what's up?"

"Don't call me that," Dark Pit said. "What'd you do with my staff?"

"Huh?" Pit asked.

"My staff?" Dark Pit said. "The staff that I use in battle? The staff that was missing from my room earlier. Where is it?"

"Oh," Pit said, "I let Nepgear borrow it."

"Well give it back," Dark Pit said.

"Hold on now!" Nepgear said. "Dark Pit, it was just an accident. I thought that Pit had asked you. I was just looking at it to see how it functioned. There wasn't any harm intended."

"Do I look like I care?" Dark Pit asked. "Just give me back my damn staff!"

"Okay, okay," Nepgear said, hastily going to retrieve the item in question. When she handed it back, Dark Pit rudely took it from her, analyzing it for any damage.

"I am sorry," Nepgear said. "I really didn't mean to make you mad."

"I'm sorry too Pittoo," Pit said. "I didn't know you'd be this annoyed. I was just worried that if I came upfront to you about it, you would say no."

"And you'd be right," Dark Pit said. "You two are absolute idiots who'd no doubt find a way to break it. Hence why you really do deserve each other."

He promptly turned, only to bump into Plutia, who had somehow ended up behind him, blocking his way. "Move it sleep addict," he said.

"You're really mean to Pitty and Neppy Jr.," she said.

"Only because they're both morons," Dark Pit said. "What's your point?"

Plutia put a hand to his shoulder. "You should really apologize," she said.

"Why?" Dark Pit asked. "Frankly, I don't really care if I made them upset or not."

"You really should," Plutia said.

"Why?" Dark Pit asked again.

He got his answer, as Plutia transformed in a flash of light into the entity that sends fear into the hearts of every CPU, by the name of Iris Heart. She now looked positively nothing like her previous self save for the color of her hair and her eyes. Previously, the most major shift between CPU to their HDD form could be found with Neptune, but at least she still had some similarities to the point you could vaguely tell they were the same person. But Iris Heart had nothing like that!

Not only was her figure more drastically different than Neptune to Purple Heart, but her overall demeanor and structuring was so much NOTHING like Plutia you couldn't dream they were the same! What's more, is even her bodysuit was unique in the fact it made her look like a dominatrix! But it was her overall aura that was the most terrifying.

The sheer ferocity and energy she was giving off was like a predatory beast of unimaginable lethality! The grin on her face was filled with nothing but horrific intent behind it! No form of god or monster that Dark Pit had ever heard of could even come close to the sense of dread that Iris Heart was giving off!

"Because," she said, replying to his previous question, "you should respect others if you want them to respect you."

Anything Dark Pit was going to say was caught in his throat by the sheer amount of revulsion that he was feeling now while looking up at Iris Heart, her height having changed to the point where at first he was looking down at Plutia to now him being the one looked down upon. Faster than he could blink, a whip had been pulled from behind her that locked itself firmly around his neck! Playfully dragging him away, Iris Heart giggled like a psychopath as she pulled the dark angel kicking and choking into her bedroom, the door slamming shut behind her.

Not far away, Pit and Nepgear were watching the exchange go down with supreme amounts of horror and mild disgust. Even Link, who had chosen to safely stay in the kitchen during all of this, found himself with the same emotions. And he fought Calamity Ganon.

"What... was that?" Pit asked.

"That..." Nepgear replied. "Would be Iris Heart."

"But... how...?" Pit asked.

"Best you don't question it..." Nepgear replied. "Many have tried. None have succeeded."

"What is she doing to him?" Pit asked.

"You don't want to know," Nepgear replied.

"Should we stop her?" Pit asked.

"You don't want to try," Nepgear replied.

With great amounts of effort, Nepgear managed to get Pit to stop questioning Iris Heart's vile nature, and the two proceeded merely to move along to helping work on the meal they had planned that evening. Considering the Trainers had begun studying recent Galarian recipes, and Joker's own talent for the meal, they were designing curry for those who came over. Twenty-five minutes passed, before Uzume and Bayonetta came in with a few more ingredients!

"Hey there!" Uzume said happily. "We made it!"

"You did it!" Nepgear said. "You got them!"

"Yeah," Uzume said. "That took a lot longer than we would've preferred. Bayonetta's world is really complicated."

"It's no trouble at all," Nepgear replied. "We're just ready to get started on that part of the curry."

"Wait a second," Bayonetta said, suddenly on edge, "where's Plutia? I thought you said she was with you?"

"She's a bit... preoccupied," Nepgear replied.

"Don't tell me," Bayonetta said, "Iris Heart?"

"Yeah," Nepgear replied.

"Oh no," Bayonetta said. "Who's the unlucky victim?"

"Dark Pit," Nepgear replied.

"Yeah, I had a feeling he'd eventually get caught by her," Bayonetta said. "The boy was far too ballsy for his own good."

"Wait! Bayonetta!" Pit said. "You know what Lady Plutia is doing?"

"Yeah," Bayonetta said. "Even as an Umbra Witch I admit that the amount of things that Plutia does to a person when she's Iris Heart is dangerously unacceptable. And truth be told, I don't even know if it's better or worse if you happen to be somebody she likes."

Pit was now even more baffled.

"Pardon the interruption everybody," Iris Heart said, finally emerging from her room. "It took a little longer than I would've preferred, but my plaything- I mean, friend here has something to say now."

Dark Pit emerged, a noxious aura coming off his body as his head remained hung towards the ground. "I'm sorry," he uttered.

"Say it in full," Iris Heart said.

"I'm sorry for my rude behavior, Pit and Nepgear," Dark Pit replied, speaking almost robotically.

"Good boy," Iris Heart said proudly.

"Uh... we forgive you?" Pit and Nepgear said. Both of them were thrown by Dark Pit speaking like that. Every ounce of his rebellious nature had, presumably, been beaten out of him!

"I'm dead," Dark Pit said.

"Now now," Iris Heart said before anyone could bring up an issue with that. "How about you go off and get some sleep, now?"

"Gladly," Dark Pit said, sounding like some of his life force had been returned to his system. Wisely not saying another word, and stretching out his joints, he made his way to the exit.

Everyone was still rather frightened by the presence of Iris Heart in the room. Well, save for one.

"Did you go a little hard on him?" Bayonetta asked.

"Would you like to find out?" Iris Heart asked, giving Bayonetta a look.

"I literally killed the creator of the universe in my world by throwing her into the sun and shredding her body by hand _while _in there," Bayonetta said. "You don't scare me, gorgeous."

Iris Heart raised a brow, before giving a shrug. "I was just making sure he stayed polite," Iris Heart replied.

Her eyes then fell upon Pit, causing the angel to jump slightly. She grabbed his chin in one hand, looking at him with hungry eyes. "After all," she said, "how could I permit his rudeness to my little Pitty? After all he's done for me, I can't just excuse such activity." She punctuated by licking her teeth as she continued to stare at Pit with growing desire.

"I need an adult," Pit choked.

"I am an adult," Iris Heart said.

"I need a different adult," Pit added.

Nepgear was watching the exchange with cold skin! Flashbacks of what Iris Heart had done to her during the events of Victory flashed in her mind! Knowing she could not risk Pit being subjected to a similar fate, she leapt at them and grabbed Pit by the waist shouting, "No!"

Iris Heart let go of Pit with a look of surprise on her face. Nepgear choked on her own words as she saw this, fearing that all she'd accomplished was subjecting her to an even worse fate than before. But to her surprise, Iris Heart laughed.

Nepgear and Pit released a frightened squeak, even as Iris Heart finally transformed back into Plutia. "And I'm back now~" she cheered.

"Okay," Uzume said, dragging Nepgear and Pit away, "we need to give these two a break. I think you've scared them worse than any Silent Hill game might have accomplished."

It took several minutes, and regular apologies from Plutia to help the two innocent children calm down. Later on, the other CPUs came over to share in the curry and were told the events that had transpired. And to be honest, they weren't surprised.

"Bout' time it happened," Neptune said.

"Wait! You mean this really is something normal for her!?" Pit said, mildly horrified.

"Yes, unfortunately," Vert said.

"Twas' not the first time," Noire said, "and sadly will not be the last."

"Best that can be done," Blanc said, "is just to keep an eye on her."

"I will not make any promises~" Plutia said.

"Plutia!" the others yelled.

"Biggest meanies ever~" Plutia said.

Later that evening, the CPUs were cleaning up after their meal, and naturally, the topic was consumed by Plutia.

"We can't seriously allow her to go unchecked to do that again, right?" Noire asked.

"Well what do you want to do?" Neptune asked. "You know it's physically impossible to keep her from doing anything. When she wants to do something, she does. In more ways than one."

"Well we very well can't just allow her to continue violating more Fighters or guests," Vert said.

"And for that matter," Blanc said, "what about when she is too pleased by somebody?"

"That's a good point," Noire said. "If she is left unchecked there's no telling what might happen if she gets too attached to somebody."

"Oh no," Nepgear said. "That is concerning. She really does like Pit now."

"Speaking of, where is he?" Neptune asked.

"He went to take a nap," Noire replied. "Apparently Iris Heart decimating his clone really got him panicked to the point he needed to rest."

"And what about Plutia?" Vert asked.

"..." Everyone was silent. Nobody had paid attention to where she went. But they had a thought.

"Oh no!"

* * *

Pit was fast asleep in Neptune's bed, taking a nap after the exhausting day. As he slept, he felt something shifting in the bed nearby, causing him to shift himself. That was when he felt something grab him by the waist.

He looked down, raising an eyebrow, seeing a mop of purple hair. "Plutia...?" he asked.

"Yeah~" Plutia replied. "It's me~"

"Why're you hugging me?" Pit asked.

"You were sleeping~" Plutia replied.

"Fine," Pit said. He was too tired to bother arguing. That is, until Plutia looked up, suddenly revealing it was actually Iris Heart!

She loomed over him, eyes glowing scarlet in the dim light. At this point, Pit was frozen in fear. Iris Heart merely looked down at him with a hungry gaze on her face, releasing her seductive chuckle.

"Plutia no!" all CPUs yelled, bursting through the door before the poor angel could fall victim to her.

"What meanies," Iris Heart said, still straddling the now unconscious Pit.

* * *

_**A/N: Hey there everybody! Thank you for your patience. In honor of the holiday season, I chose to spend more time relaxed with my family and finishing up chapters for my other story before coming back to this one.**_

_**With that said, we have Iris Heart! Yeah, I couldn't waste a lot of time in having her torment some poor unsuspecting character. Because I know full well that it would take... minimal effort for her to come out.**_

_**One of the first characters I thought of that would become her unlucky victim, would in fact be Dark Pit. It was a pretty natural thought if anyone is aware of his identity. Not to mention Pit himself is an adorable cinnamon roll that would no doubt become friends with far more than just Nepgear, making things even easier for Iris Heart to come out.**_

_**I don't really have a whole lot left to say about this one, it's pretty straight forward. Next time, expect to get a rather... eventful introduction of Hero from Dragon Quest. I intended to space out the DLC introduction chapters with some more low-key events between them. **_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To ChimaTigon: I hate making myself feel like a stickler for details (of which I am) yes, while Godzilla has had video games, he originates from films, and Smash characters have to originate from video games, no exception. Nothing against my boy Goji, I love him to pieces, but I honestly couldn't see him in Smash.**_

_**To ptl: Yeah, I have a feeling that Nepgear would kinda lose her mind around any and all machine-based character that would visit the Smash Tournament. Does make me feel like I might have to make a follow-up chapter of some kind. Also, you're not too far off from comparing Sonic's reaction to Adult Nep like EMIYA and Shirou from Fate. Though I don't imagine Sonic outright trying to murder Adult Nep at any point.**_

_**To NexusPrime42: I wouldn't be opposed to bringing in some Xbox or Playstation characters at some point later on down the road. I have even considered doing something like that since we got at least a few Sega charas for Neptune and... well, the majority of the Smash roster for Blanc. I just gotta figure out the means of doing so that is at least somewhat comprehensible, since most additional characters have been from pre-established franchises with Fighters and such. So if any of you guys have a suggestion related to this, feel free to let me know!**_

_**To AngelTheDragon1992: Don't you worry. I had a plan revolving around Sans a long time ago~**_

_**To the Guest requestion a Sakurai Direct, I could probably think of something like that. And the Guest who requested Peashy, I can definitely think of something like that too. I want to give all CPUs at least a little time in the spotlight.**_

_**And to Erik Soto: That's a really cute idea, and I could totally see that happening with that follow-up tech madness idea I mentioned before.**_

_**So thanks as always for reading and leaving me suggestions, they're all appreciated! **__**I hope you all had a great holiday season, and until next time, have a wonderful evening, and take care!**_


	10. Stage 8: She Needs a Hero

**Stage Eight: Start!**

"I truly do appreciate your help, everyone," Noire said one day, as she delivered some Lastation delicacies to the Fighters staying in Planeptune. Alongside her, Zelda, Joker, Pit, and Shulk all dutifully volunteered to help her with the delivery so she would not have to make repeat trips or resort to asking any of the CPUs or Candidates for assistance. While she was skeptical about hosting the Tournament at first, she had to admit that one of the greatest perks that had come with it was the amount of respect that all of the Fighters were giving her.

If there was one thing that Noire wished for when it came to her fellow goddesses, it was definitely be treated with respect. While she certainly got her fair share of respect and admiration from the people of her nation, and even an appropriate amount from those in the neighboring countries, she wished that her fellow goddesses would keep themselves in shape.

Vert was horrendously lax about most things and outright obsessive about pop culture ephemera. Blanc tended to act respectful, but her hair-trigger temper made it difficult to discuss anything with her without it devolving into an argument. And Neptune was so _**un**_goddess like it always sent Noire into a headspin. What all this boiled down to was not a single one of them ever respected her. Though Noire herself wasn't helping the matter by treating them disrespectfully due to their own behavior, but you can't say she didn't at least try to be respectful before realizing just how obnoxious they were.

But the Fighters knew the CPUs were goddesses, and as such, they got the appropriate amount of respect that Noire would've desired. More often than not, most of them were always willing to pitch in and help with tasks that she was supposed to do that day, no matter how unimportant it was, and always addressed her kindly and respectfully with "Lady" as her title.

True, the former could've been done just as a sign of genuine kindness from the Fighters of the different worlds, but Noire couldn't care less. The fact that she was getting help in the first place typically without having to ask was totally fine with her. Such as today, for an example.

"It's no trouble at all, Lady Noire," Zelda said in response to Noire's thanks. "We were more than happy to help, right boys?"

"Of course," Shulk replied, Pit nodding enthusiastically.

"Well," Joker replied, "I technically still owed Lady Noire a favor. But all the same, I was more than happy to help her."

Noire rolled her eyes, a hint of pink on her cheeks. Joker had really been overdoing it when it came to treating Noire as his specific goddess, being that he was a resident Playstation representative. Only unlike Cloud or Snake, who treated her with genuine respect, Joker seemed to take it as an excuse to butter her up or flirt with her. Noire had made triple certain to warn everyone ahead of time when she had volunteered him for the Tournament as an Extra Fighter that he had a reputation as a "harem master", which Vert seemed remarkably invested in. For some reason.

Soon, the group arrived around the housing district where the Fighters were residing. "Alright everyone," Noire said, "we're back with - WHAT IN THE NAME OF SONY!?"

The sight that the group beheld was enough to make them all jump in shock! The entire housing district was flooded with blue! But not the same way as if the Inkling boy had gone a tad overboard in a battle! Because this blue was alive and moving!

An army of Slimes was wreaking havoc as everyone tried desperately to contain it! Isabelle was being dragged around by what looked like five she had caught in her net! Ike was trying his best to blow as many of them up as he could with strikes from his sword! The Pokemon Trainers, Red and Green, were ordering Charizard, Ivysaur and Squirtle to overtake them with waves of fire, leaves, or water! Sonic was trying to shred them with high speed Spindashes! All of this was just a fraction of the chaos that was being seen!

As this scene all unfolded, Noire felt her eye twitching in rage, not helped as a glob of the blue, viscous fluid smacked her on the shoulder! "Hero!" she shouted. Promptly, four different Fighters all reacted to their title being called, as Solo, Eight, Erdrick, and Luminary lined up like soldiers before the CPU of Lastation!

"What, precisely, has happened here!?" she demanded.

"Luminary did it!" the others collectively said, the purple clad Hero flinching in fear!

"W-we're so sorry Lady Noir," Luminary said. "But when the Slimes got wind that the four of us were going to compete in Smash they got a little... excited."

Noire let her head hang low in annoyance. Joker was not the only Fighter that Noire had a bit of weight in recommending, but Luminary was another. Blanc and Noire spent many hours discussing over who had more authority over the Hero character of Dragon Quest becoming a Fighter, due to most of the earlier games having most impact on Nintendo consoles. All the same, they compromised by having several Heroes come to the Tournament.

For whatever reason, Sakurai himself was not very concerned about which Hero got in. He just wanted to know if the Slimes could be featured as an NPC not unlike Morgana with Joker. There was no problem with that, as the CPUs saw a few of the gooey monsters come out of the portal when the Heroes arrived. But what they didn't notice as they dispersed was more and more and more came through in dozens of sets, until... well you get the idea.

"I instantly want words with Mr. Sakurai about letting you take _any _of these discount Doggoo things with you," Noire said. "Where are the other CPUs?"

"Well, same as everyone else," Solo replied, "they're all a bit... preoccupied."

Sure enough, as Noire looked closer, she found all CPUs currently in Gamindustri fighting like crazy! Orange Heart was strafing from above with sonic waves from her megaphone! Iris Heart was whipping her chain-sword around like a maniac, not even trying to multitask and violate somebody within her general peripheral, though everyone naturally gave her a wide birth so as not to risk it. And both Green Heart and White Heart were back to back, eliminating literal waves of Slimes with strikes from their weapons!

"Y'know Blanc," Green Heart said, "I'm seriously starting to miss Doggoos compared to these things."

"Shut up and fight, whore!" White Heart shouted, taking out another chunk of Slimes!

"Wait... where's Neptune?" Noire asked, not spotting the Planeptune CPU anywhere. The sound of laughter caught her attention the next moment, as all four variations of Hero pointed to a pile of Slimes, where Neptune was found laughing hysterically as they all ganged up on her, their bodies oozing all over her. Noire let out a tired sigh, as a Slime jumped onto her own leg next.

"And, where are IF and the Candidates?" Noire asked.

"Well," Eight said, "IF ran off to go find some traps, and the Candidates went to make sure that no more Slimes came in from either the portal or by Crazy Hand."

"Okay..." Noire said calmly. "Everyone get back into the fight! Do your best to try and corral them to one spot. Somebody get Orange Heart over here too. I have an important job for her."

Everyone got to work, including those from Noire's previous group. Orange Heart ran over upon being summoned by Noire, stopping right beside her. "You wanted to see me?" she asked.

Noire bent over and whispered her plan to the Zero Dimension CPU, who nodded repeatedly to convey her understanding. "Leave it to me!" Uzume said, delivering a very kawaii peace sign. She promptly flew off as fast as she could, allowing Noire to turn to the army of Slimes.

"Now then, you disgusting monstrosities," she said. Her body was overtaken by energy as she went straight into Next Black, lifting her sword above her head! "You die!"

For the next several minutes, it was blind combat as the group continued to fight the ongoing wave of Slimes! For every twenty to thirty that were taken down it seemed like over a hundred were in their place! No matter how hard they fought, the Slimes just wouldn't let up!

"These things just won't stop!" Snake yelled, blowing up another mine! "How many of them even came here!?"

"We can't afford to let up!" Marth said. "We have to find a weak-point eventually!"

"All we have to do," Next Black said, "is hold them back as long as we can until-!" The next moment, everyone present heard a massive roar that shook the skies! "Finally," she said. "Everyone, gather all the Slimes into the center!"

Everyone did as told, creating a solid perimeter of the incident, as the next moment, a massive creature dove down and stopped directly overhead! It was obvious in the next moment, as the mighty Rathalos hung overhead, with Orange Heart sitting on its head!

"Rathalos..." Pit said. "Why did it have to be Rathalos?"

Orange Heart ran as fast as she could, as Rathalos began raining fire down on top of the Slimes, destroying a dozen in less than a second each time! He then dropped directly on top of them, before looking like some kind of possessed blender as it whipped its tail around and began munching them with its jaws!

"That's why," Next Black replied.

For another minute or two, everyone present was caught in stunned silence as they watched Rathalos positively shred every single Slime! Not a one was able to get a chance to escape, as it seemed acutely aware of each and every last one of them! And for some, the display became actually hard to watch.

"Don't you think," Peach said, "this is a bit... overkill?"

"No. No I don't," Next Black replied.

"My, my~" Iris Heart said, grabbing Next Black's chin. "Noire. I don't think I've seen you so brutal before. It's steamy~"

"Keep talking," Next Black said, eyes glowing blue. "Give me an excuse to expunge more of my unbridled wrath."

"Knock it off, the lot of you," White Heart said. "Rathalos is almost done."

With another ear-splitting 'crunch!' Rathalos finished the last of them off, maw dripping blue. It promptly fell to the ground, falling fast asleep from its good meal. Everyone set down their weapons or turned off their transformations as the fighting was done. Save for Noire, who remained Next Black for another moment.

"Hero!" she demanded, the four lining up once again. "I hope this has been a good lesson for you four! Whenever you have some creatures from your world allowed entry, we expect you to pay attention to them!"

"Yes Lady Black Heart," they replied. "We're sorry Lady Black Heart."

"Good!" Next Black said. "As punishment, you four shall assist with cleaning this place! The sight of it makes me sick!"

The four seemed to disagree with the sentiment, until Noire's sword suddenly emitted blue fire! "Yes Lady Black Heart!" they all said!

"That's what I thought you said," Next Black said, before collapsing to the ground in her base form, landing flat on her face. "Now you can start by carrying me to a room. I'm quite tired."

"Right away Lady Black Heart!" they said, picking her up and carrying her off.

As they left, everyone nearby couldn't help but be taken by the sight. "Wow," Roy said. "Remind me not to make her mad."

"You get used to it," Cloud replied, leaning on his Buster Sword.

"Is it just me," Pit said, "or is every new Additional Fighter getting some kind of initiation of some kind?"

"Well when you're diving into the deep end this late," Mario said, "it's gonna be fairly hard to not end up going through some form of insanity. Especially with the CPUs running the show."

"Hold on a moment," Bayonetta asked, adjusting her glasses, "has anybody seen where Neptune went?"

They got their response, when Rathalos promptly spit her up on the spot.

"Neptune!" Sonic and Mario said fretfuly.

"Why didn't anybody tell me this effin' dragon was coming down?" she asked, lifting a very gooey head off the ground. "I would've gotten out of the way."

Rathalos let out a strange sound as it rolled back over.

"I believe he said," Uzume said, "he's a wyvern. So you should apologize."

"It ate me. I think we're even," Neptune replied.

* * *

Later that night, Lucina entered her room, having gotten away from the crowd. She entered, taking off her cape and hanging it up on the wall, before yelping in surprise as she found Noire laying on her bed.

"L-Lady Noire!?" she said. "What're you doing in my room?"

"The boys dropped me off here," she said. "And I'm trying to sleep, so if you could keep it down, I'd appreciate it."

"B-but...?" Lucina said.

"Please. I've earned this," Noire said.

Lucina looked at the goddess with resignation, wondering what she'd have to do now.

* * *

_**A/N: So now we have the introductory chapter for the Hero from Dragon Quest! This one was much shorter than Joker's, but only because I'm a novice at best when it comes to Dragon Quest. But when I saw the Slime was a NPC style character, I knew I had to do something like this. **__**I also played off a bit about the fact that a lot of the earlier Dragon Quest games was from Gameboy or DS, but XI was from PS4 until the Definitive Edition on Switch.**_

_**Not much else to say since this one was pretty straight forward. Hero (all four of them) is here, and the Slime caused havoc. And I had way to much fun with the mental image of Neptune being eaten and spat out by Rathalos.**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To ChimaTigon: Honestly if he could, I'm sure Crazy Hand would certainly have basically every giant monster or godlike being just in a massive city-busting royale. With some black holes just to spice things up.**_

_**To MechaDragon99: Don't worry, I don't plan on dedicating much time to the ara ara character than I had to... until the day I do that follow-up chapter with Ridley, Wario and such being tortured by her, but Shh! You didn't hear it from me. (it'll be PG I promise) And the guest who recommended most of these characters can rest easy, she'll have her fun with them sooner or later~**_

_**To Neptunia56: I think even if you behave around Iris Heart she won't help herself. Anyway, Galeem and Dharkon are at least a definite maybe. Arfoire is certainly going to appear, but maybe not in the way one might assume. ;) A chapter dedicated to the Assist Trophies is certainly a possibility. And maybe~ a chapter mixing Cross Tag Character Collision. I'm at least letting this one exist by itself for a time, but you cannot tell me that Ruby Rose and Neptune being in the same frame won't be the most moe thing ever.**_

_**To ChosenOne358: Yeah, Bayonetta knows what she's capable of and certainly doesn't shy away from anything. Which I can't help but imagine Iris Heart both respects, and finds kinda hot.**_

_**To Zindakku Hirokai: These ideas are amazing, and I will get to them as soon as humanly possible so... thanks!**_

_**To Barrubo: You're not far off on Blanc's reaction I can tell you now.**_

_**And finally to 3 Question Marks: Yup! It's-a me! TheViewer-X! And of course I love Hyperdimension Neptunia! It's only the most cultured of JRPGs out there. And yes, I definitely know Xenoblade Chronicles. I haven't finished 2 yet, but I can assure you that Pyra is bae. (Mythra is just a simpleton if you know what I mean. And no I didn't look at Torna before finishing the main game, don't judge me!)**_

_**Anyway, as always I hope you enjoyed. These chapters make me smile to write and I hope it's just as entertaining to read. Let me know your thoughts and what else you'd like to see, and until next time, have a wonderful evening and take care!**_


	11. Stage 9: Back to Bite Her

**Stage Nine: Start!**

"Rei Ryghts!"

The woman in question flinched upon her name being called and went into a protective stance, shielding her head with her arms! She peeked out from her arms to spot Samus standing right behind her. "I need to go to my next match," Samus said. "Can you please clean the exhaust for my Gunship? Seems it's gotten a bit clogged and that could prove dangerous next time I have use it. Thank you, I really appreciate it."

Rei tried to tell Samus that she couldn't, which came out in a "B-but-! I can't-! I shouldn't-!"

Samus heard none of it, sliding her helmet back on as she ran off to her match, leaving Rei behind! Resolutely, Rei slumped over and dragged her heels over to the ship to get to work.

* * *

"Rei Ryghts!"

It had been several minutes since Rei had been asked to clean the Gunship, and while still covered in soot and grease, Rei had been walking with squishy footsteps through the streets. She once again threw herself into a defensive stance as her name was called again, before she saw the Pokemon Trainer, Green, standing behind her. "Can you get me feed for the Pokemon?" Green asked. "After this match they're gonna need to eat. Thanks!"

"W-wait-! B-but I-!" Rei tried to say, but Green was already gone. Once again resigned to her fate, Rei slumped over and dragged her heels behind her again as she went to get the food to leave at the Trainers' room.

* * *

"Rei Ryghts!"

Rei barely even jumped this time around she was getting so tired. She turned to see Robin standing right behind her this time around. "Glad I caught you," he said. "Can you please get me some fresh tomes? These ones are about out of power."

An Inkling was standing at his feet, tugging on his robe. "Oh yes," he said. "And can you also get some new ink for these ones? All their colors, naturally. If you could, perhaps get enough to last them the rest of the month? They have a number of matches ahead with how many of them there are. Thank you."

"But... I..." Rei tried to say, only for Robin and the Inkling to leave her behind.

Rei slumped over dramatically this time around, dragging her heels a third time in what must have only been the past three hours to move about her fate.

* * *

Rei physically could not take it anymore. She collapsed in the middle of the street, unable to take another step. All day long, practically every single Fighter and even many guests were asking her for favors and not even humoring the thought that she might refuse. So Rei found herself rushing from one chore to the next, barely getting a chance to eat or drink anything to give her the energy to continue, until she literally could not physically do anything.

Even if it was barely even noon, aside from the three tasks prior to this, she had also gotten the Belmonts new material to craft holy water, new polish for Bayonetta's guns and a metric ton of shampoo and conditioner for her hair, more seeds and fresh blades for the Villager and Isabelle for their trees, too many things to count for all the Fire Emblem Fighters to maintain their swords, a whole thirty pounds of garlic for Wario, tested grenades for Snake, the list just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and Rei could barely even keep going any longer!

And that was just today! On a normal day, Rei would be bustling around all the stages, making sure everything on board was suitable! In addition to making sure the Moray Tower had an acceptable amount of ink, she also had to check back in on all the different materials on the Wrecking Crew to ensure they had enough to last a good match, the Rainbow Cruise ship was full of enough fuel, the Yellow Devil or whatever that crab thing was in Garden of Hope didn't get too carried away and start breaking things outside their stages!

And then there were Assists on top of that! Characters like Shovel Knight, Bomberman, or Isaac could be very demanding! And do you know how many times she'd been shoved towards Rathalos by IF when he was in an especially bad mood!?

"Please!" she said, looking to the sky. "Make it stop! Can't I just have somebody give me a break!?"

Just then, a jovial as ever Pac-Man walked over to her, smiling at her slumped over form. He held a hand out, where an apple spawned, which he gestured at her. Rei was stunned for a moment, as Pac-Man continued to hold his hand out.

"For... for me?" Rei asked. Pac-Man nodded, as Rei took it with an almost hysterically happy look. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you so much!"

She took a bite, savoring it for a moment, before she realized just as fast that this was a mistake. There was something seriously wrong with this apple, like it was setting off a heat in her body that was getting painfully hot by the second! That's when she realized that this apple had been spiked with Super Spicy Curry!

Flames shot from her maw as she felt her body turn red! All her exhaustion from before was gone as she began running in place, clawing at her mouth as the flames continued to spew out! Finally, she bolted into the distance, screaming at the top of her lungs!

Pac-Man laughed as he watched her go, Palutena rubbing his head affectionately, admiring his handiwork. Mario, who was also watching this from nearby, knew that was for 1983. And while he certainly did not condone that kind of behavior, he couldn't rightly say she didn't deserve it.

Early on in the Tournament the goddesses had told the Fighters that Rei, former CPU of Tari, would be serving them and they could feel free to ask her for any favor whenever they saw her. And more specifically, they were informed to not let her say 'no.' No matter the task, they would not let her refuse, as penance for her past sins.

Mario certainly knew that Rei could be trouble. Memories from as long ago as when Tari was still standing in the early days of the Console War came to him, even if he were not there exactly. Pretty much, Rei destroyed everything she touched the moment she set her sights beyond her own nation. And sad to say, eventually that destruction lead to herself.

* * *

Not far away, Blanc was walking around with a book in hand. She was currently taking her scheduled half hour break, before returning to work later. Even as she read, she continued to think about the things she would have to do next. ROB-64 asked her to check up the programming on Great Fox for the Corneria and Venom stages. Wispy Woods was running low on water in Dream Land, so that would need to be checked. And she certainly did not trust Neptune to make sure Nepgear didn't go breaking anything in Shadow Moses, so she was going to monitor her behavior there especially.

Her musings were not the least bit interrupted, even as Rei ran straight towards her, just as the flames in her body ceased! Blanc stuck a foot out, knocking Rei to the ground in a heap as she tripped over it!

"Rei, what do you think you're doing?" Blanc asked. "We need you to go and check the Reset Bombs and make sure they're working for the Rest Bomb Forest stage, okay?"

Rei's response was an agonizing groan!

"Don't give me that," Blanc replied.

Sad to say, but this was the ultimate fate for the CPU of Tari.

* * *

_**A/N: Well... there's Rei everybody! You think I may have been too cruel? Probably, but I'll be honest I found it funny.**_

_**Anyone who's at least partially familiar with the Pac-Man port to the Atari 2600 will know exactly why Pac-Man felt the need to turn on Rei. I do enjoy Rei's character and admit that she needs more chances to be happy, but I couldn't not do anything like this to her.**_

_**Anywho, I felt the need to post this chapter sooner because I wanted to get something out there before moving onto fan suggestions, especially with tomorrow on the way, where we will FINALLY get the 5th DLC fighter announced! And to tell you the truth, I am ecstatic! **_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To Neptunia56: I could think of a Pokemon based chapter, and I had thought of the Super Crown, but... I didn't **_**want _to do anything with it initially, but I admit it would be hysterical._**

**_To 3 Question Marks: I had not finished Xenoblade 1 just yet, though I'd been needing to get to it with the Definitive Edition on the Switch in the near future. I will try to finish it quickly, but in the mean time, if you want to PM me so as to save anyone else who hadn't finished it yet the spoilers, feel free to hit me up!_**

**_To AngeltheDragon1992: You certainly will see Sans, but in a different manner than you may anticipate. You'll still get the Undertale action, just keep open for a surprise. ;)_**

_**So thank you as always for reading! And for my CTCC readers, please be a bit patient for the next chapter. Classes have started back up for me, and I'd been trying to ease a bit back into my flow before starting on the next chapter. I have an idea in mind, and it shouldn't be too long so as to get it out at a faster time, so I ask you to bear with me just a bit as I intend to start work as fast as possible.**_


	12. Stage 10: Blanc Has Had It

A/N: I wanted to point this out ahead of time, though I probably have no reason to. Just be aware that I am not referring to any of my faithful readers in the commentary to come. I love you all and think you're all swell people! ^^

* * *

**Stage Ten: Start!**

One of the things Mr. Sakurai did to reveal new Fighters that would be joining the Super Smash Bros. Tournament to the public, were in the different "Directs." Whether it be in a Nintendo Direct or a stream dedicated purely to the reveal, Sakurai would also demonstrate the power of the Fighters after their reveals. And most recently, the 5th Additional Fighter was revealed to the public. With this in mind, knowing what Fighters would be joining Smash in the near future, Blanc was feeling immensely relaxed.

For the whole Tournament thus far, it was no secret that Blanc was totally stressed out of her wits. So, having the support of the CPUs, Candidates, and Makers was enough to take a severe amount of stress off of her mind. And with the knowledge of who was to come next and how to accommodate them, Blanc was able to plot out at least the next few weeks or so as all the Additional Fighters filtered in.

This alone was able to help her feel more at ease. As mentioned at the start, not having a clear structure put her heavily on edge. But now that was no longer an issue, and Blanc was able to relax some. Which was easily noticed by the others.

"Hey Blanc, are you okay?" Neptune asked one day, as they were walking away from the Lowee Basilicom. "You're not sick or anything, are you?"

"I feel fine actually," Blanc replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Neptune said, "it's just that you look... happy. And relaxed. Which is abnormal for you."

"What's that shit supposed to mean?" Blanc asked irritably. "You sayin' I'm pissed off 24/7 and don't have any happiness?"

"Yes," Neptune replied bluntly.

"I think," Noire said, holding Blanc back before she could delete Neptune, "what she means is that since we were put in charge of maintaining the Tournament, you've been more stressed than usual. So it's actually nice to see you unwind for once."

"I concur," Vert said. "You've been more high strung than we've ever seen you, so it's refreshing to see that you've finally eased into the process of running the Smash Tournament."

Blanc took a breath. "I suppose you have a point," she said. "It's just... I have such a integral connection to this Tournament, I can't help but burden myself with all the responsibility. But now that I have all of you to help me, and everything has been accounted for, I feel I can now rest easier."

"It's alright Blanny, we get it," Neptune said. "You love us, so it's okay to be grateful!"

Blanc actually released a short laugh. "Yes, I suppose I am grateful," she said. "I don't know if I've actually given you my appreciation. So... thank you."

Neptune jumped. "Well," she said. "I wasn't expecting that."

"It may take some work," Noire said, "but Blanc can show her gratitude."

For another minute or so, the CPUs simply discussed different material as they walked down the street. That is, until a loud explosion from nearby caught their attention! The group turned towards the source of the noise, seeing a pillar of smoke rising steadily from the ground!

"What in the name of Miyamoto was that!?" Blanc demanded.

A few panicked NPCs ran past, all of them shouting!

"Good grief! Get away from him!" Magnus shouted, ushering others away!

"He's lost his mind!" Reyn yelled.

"Did he ever have it to start with!?" Chun Li said.

"Hold it!" Vert snapped, stopping Chika in place as the young Oracle attempted to book it! She had previously been working in the Lowee Basilicom with Mina, until the Lowee Oracle told her to run some errands. And, well, clearly she ended up in the heart of this madness.

"What on Microsoft is going on here?" Vert asked.

"S-sorry sis," Chika said. "B-but that Waweegee thing is flipping his shit!"

"Who?" Neptune asked.

"She clearly means Waluigi," Noire said, rubbing her eyes. "Is that right, Chika?"

"Yes!" Chika said. "He showed up in this purple pimp car or something and started throwing bombs all over the gosh, darn, hecking place!"

"Riveting," Noire said. "I thought that something like this was going to happen eventually."

"Agreed," Blanc said, deflating on sight. "I had hoped that with Wario there to calm him, that purple, lanky bastard wouldn't have, as Chika put, flipped his shit. But it seemed I was too hopeful."

"Thank you Chika," Vert said. "Now darling, I want you to coordinate with the others to clear civilians away. In addition to finding somebody to offer us backup. I have a feeling that he won't give up easily."

"Heard," Chika said. "But I wouldn't worry about backup. A bunch of those other Assist Trophy guys are there already."

"Thanks," Neptune saluted, as she and the other CPUs ran off toward the heart of the situation. Sure enough, they saw Waluigi in the heart of the plaza, standing on top of the Wario Car, Bob-ombs in each hand with a whole stockpile lined up in the back of the car! He was tossing them about indiscriminately, both to cause havoc as much as to keep back the other Assist Trophy characters that were clearly trying to get him to stop!

In total it appeared that Zero, Alucard, Shovel Knight, Isaac, Riki, Shovel Knight, Shadow, Lyn and Ashley were all surrounding him.

"Waluigi, this is madness!" Zero shouted. "Civilians are going to get hurt if you don't stop-!" He stopped as he saw a Bob-omb launched at him, which he slashed at with his Z-Saber, causing it to explode into two smaller explosions behind him!

"I must agree with my Reploid companion," Alucard said. "This is foolishness of the highest caliber." He stopped as well as he dissolved into a mass of bats to avoid the Bob-omb thrown at him!

"Isaac!" Blanc yelled to the closest Assist Trophy! "What is going on here!? Why is Waluigi doing this!?"

"I don't know!" Isaac said. "We were just watching Mr. Sakurai's Direct, when he suddenly got up and left! Next thing we know he stole Wario's car and practically every Bob-omb he could find and screeched his way out here all the way from Planeptune!"

Zero let loose a yell, as he flew by in a smoking heap! Riki scrambled over to deliver healing items, as Waluigi continued to laugh like a psychopath!

"We must find a way to put a stop to this madness!" Shovel Knight said. "This ruffian is worse than any knight from the Order of No Quarter that I've ever seen!"

Neptune's eyes fell onto Ashley, who hadn't been doing much of anything aside from sitting on the sideline and watching the sparks fly.

"Uh..." Neptune said. "Don't you know this guy? Can't you, I dunno, try to talk some sense into him?"

"No," Ashley replied. "Besides, I find watching the chaos quite stimulating."

"Great to have your help," Neptune said sarcastically.

"Okay, I've had enough of this bullshit," Blanc said. She and the other goddesses entered HDD, floating over Waluigi from a safe distance.

"Ah! You've finally arrived!" Waluigi declared.

"Waluigi!" White Heart shouted. "You better have a damned good reason for doing this!"

"Well how else-a was I supposed to get-a your attention!?" Waluigi yelled.

"What're you talking about?" Purple Heart asked.

"Don't-a you get it?" Waluigi said. "Imma totally the best Fighter there could-a ever be! And yet Mr. Sakurai doesn't-a give me my chance!? He thinks-a he can-a just make me an Assist Trophy again!?"

"And-a what? He just-a makes another sword Figther from-a Fire Emblem an Additional Fighter!?"

White Heart felt an almighty crack sound inside of her! Her right eye began twitching like mad, something which the other CPUs noticed, floating away to give her room. "The fuck did you just say?" she asked.

"You heard-a me right!" Waluigi yelled. "The fans all want-a me, and not some cookie cutter sword-a fighter from that-a Fire Emblem series!"

This proved to be a mistake on Waluigi's part, as Blanc began seething with rage beyond compare! Her body was emitting a blue and white aura, as her body shifted into her Next White form! She proceeded to grab Waluigi by the neck, pulling him right off the car and into the air, his Bob-ombs falling limply to the ground as she floated in the air!

"Run," Green Heart said.

"What?" Shadow asked.

"Move it!" Purple Heart yelled, she and the other CPUs moving the Assist Trophy characters back a safe distance away!

"Listen close you ungrateful waste of space!" Next White yelled to Waluigi. "Any character would kill to be represented in this game to any stretch of the imagination! Do you know Fossil Fighters? Ever Oasis? Resident Evil? They're all happy just to be represented by Spirits! Chibi-Robo was especially happy to have Spirits and a Mii costume! But you? You get to be an Assist Trophy! You get to have direct engagement with the battles!"

"Isaac was ecstatic when he came back as an Assist Trophy from Brawl! Bomberman and Shovel Knight were also more than appreciative to be included as Assist Trophies this time around as well! Spring Man was happy to have an Assist and Spirits!"

"But you, you filthy peasant!? You've been an Assist in every single damn game! You should be happy to be remembered as much as you are in the first place!"

"But what I hate the most about you and your disgusting kind is that none of you have any class or sense of gratitude! You bully and harass Sakurai for all of his blood, sweat, and tears that he pours into these games! He works day in and day out to make every character that is added to the roster fun and accessible, but you just scream and whine like the little pussy shits that you are!"

"Terry gets added, but you whine because you don't know who the fuck he is despite the fact that there is a market that exists outside of you in this little place called Latin America! Byleth gets added, but you act like a child because they're another sword Fighter and Fire Emblem character, despite the fact that A.) Super Mario has at least one more character than the FE roster, oh and let's not forget that you pansy bitches want you and Geno to become Fighters, and Pokemon has like three more than Fire Emblem! B.) Sakurai did the unthinkable of trying to make Byleth's moveset unique when compared to the other Fire Emblem heroes, and C.) Three Houses is a critically acclaimed game by itself that has managed to sustain a solid following! Of fucking course it is more than deserving of having a representative in this Tournament!"

"But nah man! Screw Fire Emblem! Let's totally get Sora, Dante, Lloyd Irving, and Travis Touchdown in there though! It's not like any of them use any swords! In fact, let's take Isaac out as an Assist Trophy, and put him in the game as a Fighter too! It's not like he's a sword fighter either!

"I just can't handle the hypocrisy of some of you disgusting people! I mean, by the logic of there being 'too many sword fighters' we shouldn't even have Cloud, Shulk, Hero, Meta Knight, Joker (cause' of that dagger) and the THREE versions of Link we have! I can't fucking stand it!"

"And you know what I can't stand the most? It's not that most of the people for you don't even want you, but would rather just troll and harass, but also the fact that those that do genuinely want you, care nothing for actual potential! Rather than actually stop and think, 'hey? You know what? Maybe that character could be interesting'. No! They don't!"

"They just care about being entitled with what they know! That's why they turned against Terry, yeah? Because they didn't know him!"

"And it's not like the base game was _full _of Fighters people knew and asked for like Simon, K. Rool, and Ridley! And even the first Additional Fighters like Joker, Banjo and Kazooie!"

"Nah! The moment something different shows up, kill it! Kill it with fire! It's all the same with you damn screaming kids!"

"You harass Sakurai because he doesn't give you everything you want! What do you think he must feel about that!? Doesn't it hurt him!? Don't you think about that!?"

Finally having said her piece, Next White tossed Waluigi to the ground, before pulling out her axe! Her axe had been redesigned with a branded "Ban" on both sides of the blade. "Any last words for you?" she demanded.

"W-...Wah..." Waluigi uttered.

Next White shot forward, screaming at the top of her lungs, slamming Waluigi with the axe! "Begone! THOT!"

He blew up in the despawn effect, flashing colors in an explosion that shook the earth and left a charred mark on the ground! The axe had been designed for banning any unwanted characters. And Waluigi just got himself banned.

The sky above rumbled, as Master Hand floated down right over Next White's head as she turned back into Blanc. "_Lady Blanc,_" he said. "_I do believe you just banned a character without proper authorization, yes?_"

"You fokin' wot," Blanc said, pointing up at Master Hand as she struggled to catch her breath.

"_Oh dear,_" Master Hand said, snapping his fingers and vanishing alongside Blanc.

The goddesses and Assit Trophies all looked to one another as they witnessed that event unfold. "So how long do you think Blanc was holding all that in?" Purple Heart asked.

"Uh..." Black Heart thought. "I'd say since this Tournament first started."

"Probably," Green Heart said.

* * *

Later, Blanc found herself standing in front of Sakurai himself, as the developer sat at his desk. He was massaging his brow as he looked at the CPU of Lowee, as she was still relaxing, drinking her tea in a seat.

"Now Lady Blanc," Sakurai said, "I know what your intentions were, but you just can't go banning anybody without approval like that."

"He was being a bitch," Blanc replied.

"While that... might be," Sakurai replied, "Waluigi was an Assist Trophy. If you had the desire to ban an NPC that would be different, but you need to get authorization to remove an Assist Trophy or Spirit or the like. That being said, now Master Hand has to look through the Super Mario world to find Waluigi so we can bring him back."

"I say leave his ass to rot in the Mushroom Kingdom," Blanc replied. "That prick had it coming with how full of himself he'd gotten from all the trolls begging to put him in the game."

"Lady Blanc," Sakurai said. "You can't act so defensive about this."

Blanc's face fell as she set her tea on the desk. "I know," she said. "I just... I just couldn't deal with the harassment any longer."

Sakurai smiled, as he reached across the desk to remove Blanc's hat, before petting her head. "Thank you Lady Blanc," he said. "I appreciate your care."

Blanc smiled, as Sakurai stopped petting and put her hat back on. "Thank you... Mr. Sakurai," she said.

"Why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Sakurai asked, sitting back in his seat. "Enjoy a good book, bundle up on your couch, and relax."

"But Mr. Sakurai," Blanc said. "I still have so much to do!"

"I can confer with the other CPUs and Makers about the work," Sakurai said. "You have more than earned a rest after all the work you've done."

Blanc had a thoughtful look, before she nodded. "Okay," she said. "If you say so. Thank you, Mr. Sakurai. You know, this can give me the opportunity to see the full Direct."

"You didn't watch the whole Direct?" Sakurai asked.

"Not really," Blanc said, shaking her head. "I only watched long enough to see that Byleth was the final Fighter. But I can watch it in full this time and see what else is being added. I mean, it's not like you're bringing over more than one or two Additional Fighters, right?"

She left the room in a flash of light before Sakurai could respond, leaving him alone at his desk with a fretful look on his face. "Oh my," he said. "Well... perhaps it's best she keeps her distance from me when she figures this out."

* * *

Blanc was sitting on her couch in the Lowee Basilicom, bundled up in a cocoon of blankets as the other CPUs all sat around her. "Why am I coiled up so much?" Blanc asked.

"You need to be all comfy and cozy!" Neptune said. "Unwind sistah! Heehee! You're so cute like that! Like a little burrito!"

"A burrito that can bust out a hammer and crush that grape lookin' head of yours," Blanc said, which prompted Neptune to put Vert between the two of them.

"Okay you two," Vert said, starting the Direct for them to watch.

"As we fast-forward to the parts we had not seen yet," Neptune said, "Neptune's gonna be breaking the fourth wall for this moment to remind all you naughty boys and girls out there that you shan't leave spoilers for this game in the Reviews. Got it?"

The goddesses slowed down as they got to the Stage that would be added; Garreg Mach Monastery. This would be the only Stage in the Additional set that would be a "transitional" Stage with multiple areas to look through.

"Finally!" Neptune said. "All the other Stages were so darn boring compared to this!"

"It certainly has more scale than Mementos or Yggdrasil's Alter had," Vert analyzed.

"Great," Blanc said. "That means it'll require more work to maintain."

"Can always count on you to look on the bright side, Blanny," Neptune said.

"Come on Blanc," Noire said. "You can't deny it's quite the impressive location."

Blanc knelt deeper into her blanket pile, reluctant to agree.

As they watched, much like the other franchises added to the Additional set, Garreg Mach Monastery would have background characters to see. In the "Marketplace" segment of the Monastery, they had Dimitri, Ingrid, and Dedue from the Blue Lions house.

"Queen!" Neptune yelled upon seeing Ingrid.

"What was that about?" Vert asked.

"Every time Neptune sees Ingrid," Noire replied, "she says that."

"Why?" Blanc asked.

"Because she is!" Neptune replied. "Bad ass knight mama on the scene!"

In addition, there was also the character simply referred to as "The Gatekeeper".

"Ah yes," Vert said, laying a hand on her chest. "The best character in the game!"

"You're all fucking stupid," Blanc replied.

"Screw you!" Vert and Neptune yelled, as Noire merely rolled her eyes.

Something that certainly put Blanc on edge, was the fact that the booths in the Marketplace segment could be destroyed during battles!

"Oh fuck that noise!" Blanc yelled. "Even without the additional segments of this Stage, that's gonna be a pain in the fucking ass to have to repair every damn Fight!"

"Yeesh," Neptune said. "How is this supposed to be relaxing for her?"

"Exactly," Vert said despondently.

Thankfully, the Stage relocated to the "Reception Hall" segment of the stage, which featured Edelgard, Petra, and Dorothea from the Black Eagles house of the game.

"They would choose only the women from that house," Vert said, rubbing her chin.

"Wait a heckin' moment," Neptune said. "Where's Bernadetta!? They didn't include Bernie Bear!? Only the best character in the game (save for the Gatekeeper)!?"

"How would they even be able to wrangle her long enough to keep her in there?" Noire asked.

"She's right," Blanc said. "Knowing how much anxiety Bernadetta has, she would never stay in the Stage."

"That's no excuse!" Neptune yelled. "I'm gonna file a complaint!"

Sure enough, as they kept watching, they saw that the tables of the Reception Hall could be broken as well.

"Fuck," Blanc said, hanging her head in defeat.

"I'm starting to get the feeling Sakurai included these gimmicks specifically to spite her," Noire said.

The next segment of the Stage was "The Bridge".

"Well look on the bright side," Neptune shrugged, "at least this part doesn't have anything that looks like it can be easily destroyed."

Naturally, for this segment they had the Golden Deer house characters Claude, Hilda, and Lorenz.

"Did you guys play Three Houses?" Neptune asked.

"Naturally," the goddesses replied.

"Can we all agree," Neptune said, "that looking at Claude, if you chose Golden Deer you're probably bisexual?"

"Yes," the CPUs replied.

"So who among you chose Golden Deer?" Neptune asked.

Vert naturally put her hand up.

The final area was the Cathedral, which featured Rhea, Flayn, and Seteth, representatives from the Garreg Mach Monastery itself.

"Why do so many people in this game have green hair?" Neptune asked.

"Uh..." the CPUs replied.

The Monastery didn't have much unique to itself, operating somewhat like the Reception Hall in regards to having platforms (albeit these ones easier to get to). The next segment of the Direct featured Sakurai showing off Byleth battling different Fighters in a Squad Strike mode. However, what caught their attention was the fact that he started out with the other Additional Fighters, in chronological order. And once the Fight began, he ran straight off the edge, eliminating Joker first!

"Joker!" Sakurai yelled in-video.

"Good grief!" Neptune said.

He naturally did that with all the Additional Fighters as well, until they got to Byleth!

"Holy snot!" Neptune said. "Sakurai's a genocidal maniac!"

"He's gone mad!" Vert said.

"Not really," Noire said. "Though he did pull a literal 'now I begin to try' on the computer."

What followed was just Sakurai showing off how Byleth would operate in-battle, before moving on to the new Mii Fighter costumes.

The first of these was Altair from Assassin's Creed as a Mii Swordfighter.

"Ooh~" Neptune said happily. "That's awesome!"

"Why do I get an uneasy feeling having that assassin running around," Vert said.

"Well," Blanc replied, "if it makes you uncomfortable, we don't have to make him a sentient character and just keep him as a Mii."

"Hey, no!" Noire said. "Do you know how much work I had to put in to get Sakurai to agree to have him as a costume?"

"Am I the only one wondering why they classified it as 'Altair' on the Smash X thingy?" Neptune wondered.

"That's only on the American broadcast," Vert replied. "In Europe it was Assassin's Creed."

"Why?" Neptune asked.

"How should I know?" Vert replied.

The next costume was a Rabbid hat for any Mii Fighter.

"Oh no! No! Fuck that!" Blanc yelled. "We do not bring those little fuckers over to this!"

"Woah," Neptune said, holding her hands up. "What happened there?"

"Blanc's been having some trouble with the Rabbids recently," Noire said. "Ever since Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle."

"Oh, there's no reason to worry Blanny," Neptune said. "I'm sure there's not gonna be any~ problem with the Rabbids in the future. Yep! None at all~"

"Neptune," Blanc said. "If you jinx me, I swear to the Famicom that I will ban **you **next!" "Nepu!"

Next along they saw that the X from Mega Man X and Mega from Mega Man Battle Network Gunner costumes would be returning.

"Oh hey, look at that!" Neptune said.

"That's sure to make Rock happy," Vert said.

And finally, the biggest surprise of all, they had a Cuphead Mii Gunner Costume! This one also came with the soundtrack piece "Floral Fury" from the Cuphead game.

"Oh yeah~ Baby~" Neptune cheered.

"Well that's sure to make a lot of people happy," Vert said.

"I'll admit," Blanc said. "It'll be nice having that kid come over. So long as he behaves himself, I mean."

"Why am I suddenly reminded of a different Mii Fighter Costume based off a popular indie game?" Noire thought.

"Shh~" Neptune said. "Don't spoil it just yet. That chapter hasn't come out yet."

And to finish off, they got to the very end of the Direct, where they saw the notification on new Fighters in development!

"Oh yes," Vert said. "The last Direct they announced new Fighters would be coming in."

"Yes," Blanc said. "That was certainly... not a happy moment for me."

"That's an understatement," Noire said. "You nearly blew a hole in Neptune's TV."

"I was not happy about that part!" Neptune said.

"Again, not one of my better moments," Blanc said. "However, I'm sure it won't be anything too bad. Perhaps a new Fighter or one or two Echoes. Nothing that will-"

She was cut off, however, as five envelopes came up on screen! Individual slots with labels Challenger Pack 6-10!

Blanc felt a crack as her teeth ground together! "...What?" she asked.

Before she could even process that much, a SIXTH slot appeared on screen! Six more Fighters would be joining the Tournament! Six Challenger Packs, which must have also meant six more Stages! And who knows how many extra characters would be coming depending on if they came from a new game or new franchise entirely!

"Wha...what...?" Blanc asked. Her body began to shake, as her body began emitting that same white and blue aura again!

"Oh no!" the other CPUs said.

Finally, it got too much, as a pillar of light blew up from her body as she transformed into White Heart! "_**Sakurai!**_" she shouted. "_**You're dead you motherfucker!**_"

* * *

_**A/N: Boy! This one was more of a venting session than a chapter, huh?**_

_**Well, to be fair, this was a lot of fun for me to write for multiple reasons. This chapter more or less combined the suggestions of the Guest user who suggested the CPUs watch one of Sakurai's Directs, and Zindakku Hirokai for Waluigi making an ass out of himself.**_

_**The latter suggestion instantly popped into my mind upon witnessing the reveal of Byleth as the Fifth DLC Fighter for Smash Ultimate, so I knew I had to write this up as soon as possible. I knew firsthand that Blanc would be the perfect allegory for my own venting as to the hypocrisy of the many people ranting and complaining about Byleth being the next DLC Fighter. Not much else to say on that front, most of my thoughts were told pretty much through Blanc.**_

_**And as for the watching the Direct, there's not much else to say there either. I believe the CPUs speak for themselves. (But I do have to reiterate, seriously Sakurai!? No Bernadetta in the Stage!? What the hell, man!?)**_

_**That part in particular made the chapter twice as long, but I have no regrets. It was a lot of fun to write just to show off the CPUs referencing recent stuff going on in Smash as of late. **_

_**But truly, the highlight of it all for me was Blanc discovering Six more Fighters will be added to Smash. That... that was golden! XD**_

_**Not many Reviews as of yet. Guessing people didn't like seeing Rei being abused? **_

_**But, for NexusPrime42: I feel the idea of 5pb singing Lifelight would be a beautiful idea! I can totally do that!**_

_**Anyway, be sure to leave me your thoughts. This chapter was fairly spur of the moment, but one I felt was totally needed. And expect more characters to come in the future! Until next time, thank you as always for reading, have a wonderful day, and take care!**_


	13. Stage 11: A Rare Return

The moment that Uzume saw Neptune actually working, she knew that something must be terribly wrong. She saw the fellow CPU of Planeptune rushing to and fro, helping Mario and Donkey Kong in gathering different materials to decorate the square with welcoming banners or celebratory balloons! She seemed incredibly enthusiastic to be working, and that is what made Uzume nervous.

The redheaded CPU dropped to the ground, yelling and pointing out of fear at the scene unfolding in front of her! "W-what is Nepsy doing!?" she said. "Did something go wrong with her!? Can it hurt Uzume!?"

"Relax," Sonic said, patting Uzume on the head. "She's just really excited. The next Fighter due to arrive are Banjo and Kazooie, old friends of Mario and Donkey Kong. Neptune just really wants to help welcome them with a bang."

"O-oh..." Uzume said, before coughing and clearing her throat in a vain attempt to regain her cool. "R-right! Of course!" she said, standing back up. "I-I totally knew that."

"Sure you did," Sonic said.

Blanc couldn't hide the smile on her face as she watched Neptune helping with the decorations, almost bulldozing the patiently working Miis as she went, trying to do everything herself before anybody could stop her! Enthusiasm that Noire said she wished the purple CPU could display more often. Even still, Blanc mostly found it touching that Neptune was willing to help out as much as she was to make sure that Banjo and Kazooie were welcomed with a ceremony to show just how happy everyone was to see them.

They had been taken away a long time ago, and had been missing for generations. It was only now that they had been given admittance to come back and to compete in the Super Smash Bros. Tournament. And naturally, for those that knew him back in the day, this was an event that they were ecstatic for.

"Kinda wish that we got as big a welcoming," Joker said, the Hero quartet nodding in agreeance beside him.

"Well it's not like you're particularly dead in the water right now," Noire said. "Get back to work, the lot of you!"

The Fighters complied, Noire flicking her pigtail on the side. A nearby Palutena sent her a smile. "You sure have them in a bind," she said.

"Considering they're more my responsibility than anyone else's," Noire replied, "it's only fair I keep them in line."

"She's the dom, and she's got them whipped," Bayonetta said smugly.

"Come here and say that to my face!" Noire cursed.

"Lady Noire!" Mario said, running over to her side. "Please relax! They're-a due to arrive fairly soon!"

Noire gave a sigh. "Fine," she said. "You're right Mario. All the same, something I'm intrigued about is the fact that you two aren't at each other's throats," she said, looking to Vert and Blanc.

"I mean," she added, "weren't Banjo and Kazooie taken away because of you, Vert?"

"Hey," Vert said, holding up her hands, "I didn't have anything to do with that. I may be the CPU of Leanbox, but some finer dealings in relation to such things are out of my area of control."

"Namely because she's glued to MMO games or yaoi manga for 85% of her life," Blanc added.

"You flatter me," Vert said, laying a hand on her chest.

"How is that flattering?" Palutena asked, laying a finger to the side of her chin.

"Because I could've said 100%," Blanc replied.

"Ah," everyone else said.

"Shut up! Shut up! Everybody shut up! They're coming!" Neptune said, proceeding to kick each CPU for a second or two! Before they could reprimand her, the beam of light indicating a new Fighter's arrival shot down, everyone staying still as it settled down.

In a moment, the bear and bird duo appeared front and center, eyes adjusting to the new area. They jumped in surprise, as everyone shouted to them with a great, "Welcome back!"

The two smiled brightly, heart-warmed over the warm welcome.

* * *

For the next several minutes, everyone began to mingle casually with one another, as Banjo and Kazooie went from one Fighter to the next to greet them, never moving far away from Mario and Donkey Kong.

"Gawrsh," Banjo said. "I didn't expect pretty much everyone here to be so welcoming."

"Yeah," Kazooie agreed. "It's really exciting!"

"Well I can-a understand," Mario said. "You two have been-a missed for so long. Even those-a who don't-a remember meeting you can at least respect you for your past."

"Well," Banjo said, "it's not like we really did anything that special."

"Oh, don't be like that," Sonic said, speeding over and giving them a pat on the back. "Everyone knows you two were a bit ahead of your time."

"Thanks anyway," Banjo said, shaking hands with the blue hedgehog.

"So can-a we expect any more-a guests from your world?" Mario asked.

"Well we got Bottles and Mumbo coming for sure," Kazooie replied. "And even Gruntilda insisted she come over."

"Well so long as she behaves," Blanc replied, walking over to the small group, "all are welcome."

"Oh, Lady Blanc," Banjo greeted, offering a bow, with Kazooie bowing her head from the backpack. "It's been so long since we last met!"

"That's right," Blanc replied. "Not since Banjo-Tooie if I recall. I'm very happy to see you again."

"How have things been with the babies?" Kazooie asked.

"Well they're not quite babies now," Blanc replied, gesturing to where Rom and Ram were swinging from Princess Corrin's dragon wings. "But not by much."

"Well gawrsh," Banjo said. "Didn't know we'd been gone that long."

"You kidding?" Sonic asked. "It's been ages!"

"And," Vert aded, "we couldn't be happier to see you again. I must apologize as well, you two. If I had known what a void you would leave, I would have intervened and kept you both from being taken away from your old Lowee friends and family."

"It's not your fault Lady Vert," Banjo said. "We don't have any hard feelings."

"Most of us don't at least," Blanc said. "But there is one thing that I am going to need from your top heavy ass if I'm gonna forgive you."

"Lady Blanc!" Banjo, Mario, Sonic, and Kazooie all said.

"Didn't we just say," Vert said, "that I wasn't to blame?"

"Nuts and Bolts," Blanc said.

"You make a firm argument," Vert replied. "What would you want?"

"Let me brag," Blanc said.

"Is that it?" Vert asked. "Okay."

"Thank you," Blanc said, before clearing her throat. "I called it!" she said. "I freaking called it! Nobody told me that I could get Banjo and Kazooie back home to compete in Smash, but guess what!? I fucking called it, goddammit! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"Your welcome for making the deal by the way," Vert said, removing a glove so she could look at her nails.

"Isn't she going a little overboard?" Kazooie asked.

"If you've seen-a what she's-a been through," Mario said, "you would-a let her have this."

Next thing anyone knew, a cardboard box bounced its way over to everyone else, before, surprisingly not Solid Snake, but Lid from Lastation popped out and gasped for breath! "Air~" she gasped.

"Uh..." everyone said, rather flummoxed by her arrival.

"Oh, hey Lid," Noire said. "What's going on with you?"

"Isn't she non-canon?" Neptune asked, scratching her head.

"Lady Noire!" Lid said, saluting while still sitting in the box. "We have a situation! A number of unidentified third-party characters have been spotted coming into Lowee's airspace!"

"Third party characters?" Noire asked.

"Wait, what!?" Blanc asked.

"Uh, excuse me?" a nearby voice asked. Everyone turned to see a fairly unimpressive looking man with a dark, baggy coat, with dark hair and a rugged looking face. He was unknown by some, but those who recognized him knew him as Alan Wake from his titular series of games.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" he asked.

"What the fubbernuck is this!?" Blanc demanded.

"Oh," Alan replied. "I was called here to see off Banjo and Kazooie and wish them luck in the Tournament."

"Really?" Banjo asked. "Gawrsh, that's nice of ya!"

"He's not the only one," a deeper voice said. Everyone turned to see a man wearing an impressive suit of armor with a massive gun strapped to his back, by the name of Marcus Fenix from the Gears of War series!

"Oh no!" Neptune gasped dramatically. "It's the protagonist from Gears of Duty: Battlefield Fallout!"

"I feel somewhat offended," Marcus said.

"Not my fault all your games are the same," Neptune said, smirking smugly.

"What are you doing here!?" Blanc yelled.

"What?" Marcus said. "You weren't expecting us?"

"Not this side of-!" Blanc began, before she was cut off by another rude interruption.

"Run away!" another voice yelled.

"Oh sweet merciful Miyamoto," Blanc said. "Now what!?"

She looked to see the crowd dispersing to reveal Dark Samus caught in a fight with the agent from Crackdown! Bullets and Phazon flew around as the two were caught in a fight for no discernible reason!

"Glad that wasn't me," Samus said, sliding to a halt beside Simon and Lucario!

"This makes no sense," Blanc said, looking to be having a panic attack.

"Cut it out!" Fox yelled, throwing a bomb at the two, splitting the Crackdown Agent away from Dark Samus!

"Nice shot," a voice said.

"Oh thanks-" Fox began, before looking to the left and revealing Commander Shepard from Mass Effect.

"Ah-ha!" Neptune said, snapping her fingers. "Mass Effect! That's the other FPS I left out of that joke. Then again, your game is somewhat unique. You can stay."

"Thanks?" Shepard replied. "I think?"

Their eyes fell upon Blanc, whose face was as red as a Metamato, her fist clenched so tight her veins were popping out of her skin! "I swear..." she said. "If I see another unwanted guest... I'm gonna lose it!"

"Finally!" a voice from nearby said. "Told you it was left."

Her eyes slowly turned to the direction of the voice, giving a defeated sigh. Sure enough, she saw not only one, but _two _more unwanted guests. As she saw it was Master Chief from Halo talking to Joanna from Perfect Dark.

"Okay," Joanna admitted. "You were right. Sorry I got us misdirected."

"It's no trouble," Master Chief said.

Blanc was breathing slowly, her body still as a statue with her eyes closed tight.

"Uh... Lady Blanc?" Mario said. "Please-a try to keep-a your temper in check."

"Y-yeah Lady Blanc," Pit said. "W-we can figure this out."

"Sis is gonna snap," Ram told Rom.

Finally, Blanc pulled the pin on the grenade. "**What! In the name of ass! Is going on around here?!**"

"Oh boy," Neptune said.

"Where did all of you come from!?" Blanc said. "I get why you're here but how-?" She stopped herself as she came to a startling realization.

"Wait a second," she said, her eyes falling onto Vert, who'd been remarkably quiet this entire time. "You!" she said, pointing at the CPU of Leanbox angrily.

"What? Me?" Vert asked, sounding rather offended.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Blanc said. "I know you had something to do with this! Taking what little notoriety you have and shoving them down our throats now that you had _one _character joining Smash! A character that started on my home consoles, might I add!"

"Hey!" Vert said. "That's really offensive! I have notoriety!"

"But you did it," Blanc said. "Didn't you? You brought your characters here, right?"

"Okay, yes," Vert replied. "They're not going to stay, so you can keep your little flat butt from getting in a twist."

"Fuck you!" Blanc yelled. "How did you even do this!?"

"Crazy Hand," Vert shrugged.

"Of course," Blanc said, hanging her head in shame.

"Hold on," Master Chief said. "You didn't know about this, Lady Blanc?"

"Do I look like I knew?" Blanc asked.

"Okay, look," Corrin said. "Like Lady Vert said, they're not going to stay. They're just here to welcome Banjo and Kazooie to Smash Bros. and then they'll leave."

"Now we feel bad," Kazooie said. "This was all because of us, right?"

"No, of course not!" Joanna said. "Lady Vert asked us to come."

"She's right," Alan said. "We came to see you off and wish you luck. And Lady Vert welcomed the idea."

"Oh, throw me under the bus!" Vert said.

"Okay. Okay," Blanc said. "Let me take a breath." She took a deep breath, before letting it out. "You've all got a point. This will be settled quickly."

As if she had gotten an instant jinx, a loud 'Boom!' caught their attention, causing Blanc to twitch her eye. "I should've known," she said.

Ness looked awkwardly over at Samus and Fox. "I... don't suppose that ship belongs to either of you?"

"Nope," they both said.

"I was afraid of that," Ness said.

She looked over to the side, where a ship had crashed down in a nearby field! From the ship, out stumbled Nathan Drake from Uncharted, who nearly fell off his feet! "Where did you learn to fly!?" he demanded.

"Hey!" Ratchet said, as he and Clank came out as well. "We didn't build this ship!" He pulled out Sackboy from Little Big Planet next, who gave a nervous smile, shrugging it off.

"What the-!?" Blanc said. "How the-!? Where-!?"

She looked to Vert, who was just as stunned. "Hey! I didn't invite them!" she said. "I only invited people from my home!"

"Then where did-!" Blanc stopped again, recognizing all these guys from Playstation. "Wait a minute," she said, looking over at Noire, who was sipping on her drink, before her eyes settled on Lid, who was still hiding in her box.

"I thought you were gonna warn me when they got here!" she said.

"I did say unidentified third-party characters were approaching," Lid replied. "I was having a hard time recognizing where they were from; Playstation or Xbox."

Noire looked angered, as Lid threw her head back in the box.

"Noire..." Blanc growled.

"In my defense!" Noire said, before Blanc could do anything. "I only asked them to come after Vert told me she was going to have some of her characters show up!"

"Vert..." Blanc growled in turn.

"Well I didn't tell you," Vert said, "because I knew you were going to react like this."

Their attention was grabbed again, as Sir Daniel from Medievil walked over, saluting Noire and saying a number of incomprehensible things that were totally unable to be understood from his lack of a lower jaw.

"Uh... what?" Neptune asked.

"I think he was greeting me," Noire said.

"Where be the subtitles?" Neptune asked, attempting to check the settings. "Oh yeah, this is a fanfiction, not a video game. Darn it! Author, can't you translate for us?"

"What is she saying?" Shepard asked, not used to Neptune's behavior.

"According to what Lady Vert warned us about," Marcus said, "she's not exactly the most sane character."

"Lady Noire!" yelled Sly Cooper. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Hello Sly," Noire said. "Tell me, did you bring Crash?"

"Well we would have," Sly said, "but we agreed he might cause too much of a scene."

"Fair enough," Noire said, recalling the number of cries for people that were asking for the orange bandicoot to show up as a Fighter. If she could have, she would ask Sakurai to let him in. But by this point, for Fighter Pass 2, the Fighters were already selected and even the goddesses were left in the dark about who was going to show up next. (As was seen explicitly when Blanc discovered there would be a Fighter Pass 2 in the first place.)

"Noire..." Blanc said. "Be honest with me. Did you have a reason to bring over your characters at all? You already have Joker, Cloud, Snake, and Hero! You have plenty of representation as it is!"

"Well," Noire said, "I figured that my babies who didn't get a chance to arrive at the Tournament should have their time! There's nothing stopping any of our characters from arriving, no?"

"That's different!" Blanc said. "Even I don't have the authority to say who is and who is not allowed to even _watch _the Tournament in person! It is all a very fine-tuned process between myself, Sakurai, Master Hand, and the directors of Nintendo! I may be their goddess, but I'm not a business partner!"

"How did you even get them here!?"

"Crazy Hand," Noire said with a shrug.

"Oh my," Nathan said. "Looks like we caused a scene even without the bandicoot."

"Terribly sorry to be an inconvenience," Clank said. Sir Daniel made a few noises that indicated he agreed.

"It's fine!" Blanc said firmly. "It's fine! We just... need to get this all settled down without any neck breaking."

"Should I tell you something?" Neptune asked.

"What?" Blanc asked, that is, until she felt her hat taken off her head. Her eyes looked in the direction a shape was floating down beside her head. Her eyes focused on Nights from Nights into Dreams.

"I think she means me," the androgynous Nightmaren said.

"What. In. The. Ass," Blanc said.

"Well guys," another voice said. "Welcome to Lowee. A bit different from Planeptune, eh?"

Blanc spun around to see Vyse from Skies of Arcadia, apparently showing Arle Nadja from Puyo Puyo, Sakura from Sakura Wars, and Alex Kidd around the city. Blanc felt her face imploding as she looked to Neptune, who was nervously tapping the tips of her fingers together, as Nights was still floating beside her, spinning Blanc's hat on a finger.

"Vert did it!" Neptune said. "She made me do it!"

"I did no such thing!" Vert said.

Blanc was practically vibrating in anger! Her teeth were grinding hard enough for white dust to visibly fall from her mouth, her face had turned a bright red, and a number of disgruntled noises were slipping out of her! Most of her subjects noticed this, and were all visibly stressed as to try and keep her calm!

"L-L-Lady Blanc!" Robin said. "P-please try and relax."

"R-right!" Samus said. "W-we'll get this settled. Just don't-!"

Finally, Blanc took a deep, deep breath! But right where it looked like she was about to scream at the top of her lungs, all she let loose a small noise. Then, she promptly fell over and passed out!

* * *

The following day, all uninvited guests were gone from Gamindustri, the three other goddesses all giving a great number of apology to their fellow CPU over causing her such a great amount of stress. Master Hand and Mr. Sakurai were contacted thereafter to ensure greater security to not allow such an event to happen again, so as to save Blanc further anxiety. Crazy Hand was also ensured so as not to summon any unlisted character to the Tournament, even if requested by the CPUs, lest he get explicit approval from Master Hand or Sakurai himself.

While still getting a great number of apologies from the other CPUs, Blanc and the goddesses all went to the Spiral Mountain stage to give it a test run to see if it would be viable for battles. The rotation gimmick was operating as they had hoped, with numerous platforms coming down at specific intervals to continue keeping the fight interesting. It was only as the fight went on that things became a bit more... problematic. As Neptune unfortunately found out.

"Mumbo," Noire said, rubbing her eyes. "We thought that when we set up a stage on the Spiral Mountain that you weren't going to go hexing anybody in the middle of a fight!"

"Hey, I was startled!" the little voodoo wizard replied.

"That's why we were testing before an official fight started," Blanc said. "So from here on out, we would appreciate it if you didn't go interfering in a fight from here on out."

"Okay, okay," Mumbo said. "I get it. I understand."

"Come to think of it," Vert said, "what did you do with Neptune?"

"Uh..." Mumbo said.

* * *

Neptune had no idea what was going on. She was just in some kind of black void when she could've sworn she was on Spiral Mountain training with the others a second ago. "Hello?" she asked. "Hello~"

She got no response. It appeared that she was gonna be stuck here until the others could find her.

"Darkness, imprisoning me! All that I see! Absolute horror-ra-ra-ra! Ra-ra-ra-ra! Ra-ra-ra-ra! I don't know the words!"

* * *

_**A/N: And here we are everybody! Banjo and Kazooie have joined the battle! I'll admit, at first, I didn't really have a clear idea what I was going to do with this chapter, but then as I got some requests wondering if other characters from Xbox, Playstation, or Sega would show up, I finally had the perfect thought in mind!**_

_**So, there we go! Some shout outs to characters from the other consoles not featured in Smash to coincide with Banjo and Kazooie's arrival! And while I would have preferred Blanc to not be given so much stress recently, I couldn't very well have this occur without some stress heaped on our lovely CPU of Lowee.**_

_**I don't really have much else to say, as just the random introduction of other characters and Blanc's reaction speaks for itself. The ending bit actually made me smirk quite a bit as I wrote it, I don't know why. It's just one of those random thoughts that popped into my head, recalling how Mumbo shows up in Spiral Mountain, so I was like, "hey! Why not have something happen to Neptune?"**_

_**I suppose I should also mention my thoughts on Banjo and Kazooie. I'll admit, I was skeptical if they would end up in Smash at all, but now that they're present, I couldn't be happier. Something about them being in Super Smash Bros. just feels right, and I am very happy to see them return, and hope that it will lead to plenty of appearances to come later. (Preferably good ones!) They're gameplay is pretty good too!**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To Neptunia56: Glad we could agree on people complaining to Mr. Sakurai. Also, the idea of having the characters babysit is something I could very well see happen in the future. Particularly the Candidates, as it's always fun having to watch them try to handle a situation on their own. If you guys have any requests of characters that could be babysat, just let me know! **_

_**To Zidakku Hirokai: We very might see a sequel to the last chapter if that does occur! XD And as for the request on people wanting Goku and some such, that does give me an idea for something else in the near future. So stay tuned. ;)**_

_**To Erik Soto: Yeah. These last two chapters certainly made it clear that I need to give Blanc a break! Hopefully she can get one soon.**_

_**And to the final guest user, glad you liked it! The whole "begone thot" thing made me laugh while I wrote it, so I'm glad you found it funny too. And I can certainly give little Gearsy a cute birthday chapter. Also, you can take it Waluigi certainly is traumatized.**_

_**With that all said and done, thank you as always for reading, I hope you did enjoy, let me know what else you'd like to see. Have a wonderful evening, and take care!**_


	14. Stage 12: Undersales-Noire's Bad Time

Noire was not a person with many real vices in life, believe it or not. As somebody who can "only do everything", as she proudly states, she never really had many things that got the best of her. True, this only made her easily frustrated when she had things get out of order, but you couldn't deny the fact that she was competent.

As its CPU, Noire governed her country, Lastation, capably and efficiently. She continued to ensure everything ran like clockwork. And while this made her a despicable perfectionist, gave her a severe case of OCD, and made her every kind of paranoid, it seemed to pay off.

But there was one real vice that she did have in life. One thing she could never seem to get over no matter how much work she put in. And it happened to be a lazy, immature, purple _thing _by the name of Neptune.

Neptune took pride in three things in her life: Mastering video games. Having powerful friendships. And bugging Noire.

For some reason, Neptune seemed to really enjoy pulling Noire's chain every way to Sunday. More often than not, it really seemed like it wasn't to try and get her to loosen up and enjoy herself, but really seemed to be _just _to frustrate her and instigate a fight.

This time may not seem to be any different, though looking between the lines painted a different picture. Like many times before, Noire was massaging her brow, doing everything she could to repress an almighty scream of anger that was steadily building up inside of her. At least Neptune seemed to realize she had done something wrong, which was a rarity and made this occasion different from the rest, as she stood in front of Noire with her hands tucked behind her back, a nervous smile on her face and beads of sweat on her forehead.

What caused this particular situation? Well, it probably had something to do with the large line of unlisted Miis standing nearby.

"So..." Noire uttered slowly. "Care to explain?"

"W-well..." Neptune replied. "I may have done... a bad?"

"A bad," Noire repeated. "Can you elaborate on what that 'bad' is?"

"Well," Neptune said again, "let's just say that this is what happens when a Mii character gets too much power."

Noire raised an eyebrow. Miis were odd little buggers. Most of them existed purely as staff-workers for Master Hand, and every once and awhile he used them as puppets and vessels for different characters to have a presence in the Tournament, even if they weren't Fighters, guests, or Assists.

For some, they eventually became means for the characters they represented to actually end up in the Tournament altogether, or have them arrive as guests. And it would appear that was what was happening now.

"Neptune," Noire said, "you know that when Blanc gets wind of this she's going to have a coronary, right?"

"I am well aware of that!" Neptune replied. "That's why I called you and not her! So let's handle this before she gets here!"

"What are they all even doing here?" Noire asked.

"I think I may be able to help with that," a new voice said. The two goddesses turned to see fellow goddess, Viridi from Palutena's world standing nearby. "It would appear that one Mii that was used as the vessel for a new guest arrived and decided to set up a shop so other unlisted Miis could allow their respective characters admittance into the Tournament."

"You're kidding me," Noire said. "That's totally ludicrous!"

"That's what I'm saying," Viridi replied. "It's not really my place to get involved, nor do I really care to, but I couldn't deny that this was somewhat entertaining to watch."

"You're a real menace, you know that, Viridi?" Noire asked.

"I have been referred to as such before," Viridi replied.

"And what Mii would that be?" Noire asked.

"I believe his name was... Sans," Viridi replied.

Noire felt her eye twitch. "It would be that one," she said.

Neptune tried to edge away, before Noire grabbed her by the hood of her dress! Turns out, Sans was a character that Neptune had personally vouched for in the past, wanting him to be welcomed to the Tournament as a guest. The others saw no problem with that, as every bit of evidence they got accounted for Sans himself being harmless. From there, Sans's Mii allowed him access to the Tournament, and he seemed pretty unassuming on the surface.

He would often be found popping in and out across all of Gamindustri, being in Planeptune one minute before just appearing in Lowee the next. While he was a bit of an oddball, most every Fighter or such seemed pretty cool with him. He was a bit lackadaisical, but he was a good guy and it quickly became obvious why Neptune wanted him to gain access to the Tournament. Only now it was apparent that he would indeed find the means to get himself into trouble.

"Really?" Noire asked. "Neptune, did you know something like this would happen?"

"Well I didn't _know _it would!" Neptune replied, turning to face Noire.

"But you had an idea, didn't you?" Noire said.

"Well, maybe," Neptune replied. "But you can't blame me! I needed him to get here! He's the only person I have found that I can relate to!"

"Just goes to show what happens when you let an idiot off the leash," Noire said.

"Nepu!" Neptune said with an offended tone.

Noire dragged Neptune up to the booth, where they saw the skeleton in question having fallen asleep, the line of Miis obediently waiting for him to wake up.

"Sans! Wake up!" Noire said firmly.

The skeleton popped awake, spotting Noire standing in front of him. "oh hey noire. what's up?" he asked.

"That's 'Lady' Noire to you!" Noire replied. "And what I would like to know is, what in the world could've possessed you to try getting all these Miis as their respective characters?"

"well it seemed like a good idea, you know?" Sans replied.

"No! No I don't!" Noire replied. "Look, I respect the game you come from. I can respect that you're here, and will happily permit it. But I would like to know you're not taking advantage of this privilege by getting into trouble!"

"well depends on what you mean by 'trouble'," Sans replied.

"By not trying to make a profit by sneaking characters into the Tournament!" Noire replied. "Even the villains like Bowser and Ridley know that can get you banned!"

"Just, please, do us all a favor and don't pull crap like this again?"

"okay," Sans replied simply.

From there, all the Miis were returned to their proper places and everyone went about their day. From there on, it was hoped by Noire and surprisingly Neptune alike, that Sans would not get himself into trouble again. And sure enough, he seemed pretty relaxed the rest of the day.

The same could not be said for the next day. Sure enough, Noire found herself called to Planeptune once again by the nervous CPU, and a very similar routine could be spotted. Neptune was standing awkwardly in front of Noire with a nervous smile, hands tucked behind her back and forehead sweating, while Noire herself was rubbing her brow and repressing an almighty scream.

"Let me guess," Noire said, "he pulled similar crap again?"

"That he did," Neptune replied.

"What would it be this time?" Noire asked.

"A shipping booth," Neptune replied.

"Oh for Sony's sake!" Noire yelled.

She took a cursory glance around, her crimson colored eyes seeming all the more dangerous now with this annoyance on the surface. A surprising amount of Fighters were gathered up, each one taking advice from the skeleton behind the desk. Noire did get a surprise at the sight of the figure sitting beside him, before it quickly turned into a look of anger and annoyance as she realized that Joker had somehow gotten in on this scheme.

"Oh, hey Lady Noire," Shulk's voice could be heard. "How's it going?"

"It goes badly," Noire replied. "This idiot skeleton just can't seem to keep his nonexistent nose out of trouble!"

"Really?" Shulk asked. "Huh. I would've thought you CPUs would be okay with this."

"Well we're not!" Noire replied. "Or at least I'm not! And Neptune here just wants to make sure her precious Sans doesn't find himself getting banned!"

"This is true," Neptune conceded.

"And come to think of it," Noire added, "what're you even doing here, Shulk? I would've thought you were better than this!"

Shulk crumpled under her gaze. "He... he's very convincing!" he replied.

"I've had enough of this," Noire said. She quickly made her way over to the front, slamming both hands on the both! "Sans!" she yelled.

Joker leapt a foot in the air at the sight of Noire! "Oh crap," he said.

"You! Stay!" Noire promptly said to the Persona character. "I've got choice words to say to you when this is all over! And as for you!" she added to the skeleton.

"what can i help you with, nowa-chan?" Sans asked calmly.

"Don't you 'Nowa-chan' me!" Noire replied. "You're seriously getting yourself into trouble only a day after your last incident! You are on severely thin ice now, sir!"

"i fail to see how this constitutes as 'trouble' either," Sans replied.

"You're still trying to make profit off of other people!" Noire replied. "Just... just stop doing that! You're actually going to get banned if you keep profiting off of other people!"

"okay," Sans replied.

"I mean it this time," Noire said.

"Are you saying you didn't mean it last time?" Neptune asked.

"I did mean it last time!" Noire replied. "But now I'm just making my point even more clear! Sans, don't do it again!"

"okay," Sans said again.

The crowd promptly dispersed, and a stealthy Joker tried to make his way away. "Oh no you don't!" Noire said, grabbing Joker by the back of his jacket and dragging him away! Joker tried uttering any number of apology he could, but it was rather apparent that Noire was not hearing any of it.

"Oh I gotta see this," Neptune said happily.

Joker found himself shoved into a random building as Noire pinned him against a wall! "Okay Joker," she said, "you really seem to like getting yourself put into positions that would have to cause me to remind you of where you are and what your position is. So," she said this as a large cloud of energy surrounded her body, "any last words before I make it explicitly clear what is to happen to you should I find you like this again?"

Joker's eyes were wide as his body turned bleach white. "#noregerts...?"

That did it. Noire turned into Black Heart. "Now here's what I'm gonna do!" she said. "I will shove my sword right up your-!"

* * *

Sans suddenly appears in the office.

"we interrupt this fanfiction segment due to the fact that noire went into great, excruciating detail about what she would do to joker, which the author and even the perverted Neptune found to be too graphic for the public to view. but the most you need to know is that it ranged from things like nut-busting to things being shoved into orifices they really shouldn't go. so for the benefit of everybody, i'm just gonna skip to the point where it stopped."

* * *

The sound of the door opening and accidentally slamming against the wall caught everyone by surprise that everyone's pulses skipped a beat at the noise, shocking them from their current states! "Oh, sorry about that!" Nepgear said innocently. "Hey, Neptune, I was looking all over for you! Pit and I found this great-!"

She cut herself off as she saw the awkward situation that everyone was currently in. Black Heart still had Joker pinned against the wall, and Neptune was standing off to the side with her face as red as a tomato.

"Uh..." Nepgear said. "I-I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?"

Noire seemed to slowly pull herself together from her previous ranting, only now seeming to take in where she was and what she was doing. It was as if she had been caught in a daze before, not even comprehending what she was doing. She slowly let Joker go as her face was overtaken by a strong expression of embarrassment or shame.

"I... I'm sorry," she said, rubbing her head. "What... what was I doing?"

"I'm gonna be real with you," Neptune said, "even I have no idea. But for the past several minutes I have no idea if I was looking at you or Sadie. Joker, how you doing my guy?"

Joker himself seemed to pull himself from a daze. "Well..." he said. "I now have many things to ponder about in terms of my kinks."

"I... I'm really sorry," Black Heart said, continuing to pull herself together.

"What happened?" Nepgear asked.

"Ask your mother," Neptune replied.

"But Neptune we don't have a-" Nepgear replied, before getting cut off.

"Just ask her when you're older! Go!" Neptune said. Nepgear quickly scampered off.

"Pray tell," Neptune then turned to Black Heart, "how sexually frustrated have you been lately?"

"Want me to turn my previous ranting on you!?" Black Heart demanded.

"You know Noire," Joker said, tugging on his gloves, "it's not healthy to be stressed so often. Every now and then you need a reprieve."

"Leave. Now," Black Heart said. "You're off the hook. I'm way too confused right now to bother punishing you."

"Will do," Joker said, giving a casual salute as he left.

"You sure you don't need anything?" Neptune asked.

"I'll be good," Black Heart replied.

"Then are you gonna change back?" Neptune asked.

Black Heart only realized she was still HDD, before changing back. "Let's go," she said. "We've got work to do. Oh, and by the way, if you tell anybody about what you saw today," she promptly turned her blade on Neptune's neck, "I will stab you."

Naturally, everybody tried to forget about that day's antics and went about as normal. And as it happens, things quickly took a turn by the following day. Yet _again_, Noire was called to Planeptune by the CPU, and they were once more thrown into their positions from the days before. Neptune: innocent if guilty smile with her arms tucked behind her back, now sweating even more profusely than before. Noire: massaging her brow, stifling a scream that was leaking through her clenched teeth.

"What is it this time?" Noire asked.

"Well... souvenirs?" Neptune replied.

"Pardon?" Noire said, looking at the booth for the first time. Sure enough, the booth was stocked full of different souvenirs including Spirit trading card packs, Amiibos, or even costume materials.

"Huh," she said. "Well, at least this one seems more innocent than the last two. Let's just make sure."

The two walked over to Sans's booth, the skeleton turning his perpetual smile on them. "Business doing well?" Noire asked.

"yup," Sans replied. "figured if I was gonna make a profit around here, might as well make it an honest business."

"You know," Noire replied, "people typically try that _before _moving to the more morally questionable stuff."

"well, i mean," Sans said, "if i could've gotten away with it, it was worth a try."

"Whatever," Noire said. "Just so long as you're not doing anything illegal or immoral, we'll allow it. Just try to keep flying straight, okay?"

"okay," Sans replied.

"Set myself up for that one," Noire said.

"Hey Noire! Lookie!" Neptune said. "I got a Papyrus costume! Nyeh heh heh!"

"When did you even buy that!?" Noire said in annoyance.

* * *

_**A/N: And the skeleton boy is here! Expect to see more from him in the future.**_

_**Yeah, given how the internet exploded upon Sans being announced as a Mii Fighter Costume, it would have been impossible for me to not feature Sans as a character in some capacity. I chose to go down the avenue of explaining how Sans could exist as his own character, while also explaining the factor of Miis themselves involved as well. And I think I did a pretty good job.**_

_**I thought that Neptune and Noire would be the most appropriate characters to have featured in this chapter to fall victim to Sans's antics, with Noire being the one who would naturally be enraged over... well, practically anything that Sans would do, and Neptune being a character that would actually be able to, as she says herself, "relate" to Sans as a character. **_

_**Also, as for the bit between Joker and Noire, I did that mainly just for the lols. I had Joker teasing Noire for quite a bit throughout this series, and this was the perfect opportunity to showcase that Noire has been planting a lot of stress on herself throughout this tournament, though not as obviously as Blanc. Did I go a bit overboard, maybe, but it's not like Noire doesn't typically find herself being enraged or taken advantage of in every Neptunia game.**_

_**Overall, this was a chapter that I had a lot of fun writing, if it wasn't present in the writing itself, and did its part in terms of introducing Sans, who like I said, will be featured more throughout other chapters in the future.**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To ptl: Thanks for the like! Glad you enjoyed. I figure a beach chapter is a possibility, and I can't deny doing an inverse of what I did in Cross Tag Character Collision would certainly be funny given the male to female ratio of Smash as a game. And I certainly do enjoy putting more attention on supporting characters from each franchise featured and hope to do more like that in the future. And regarding the great Segata Sanshiro, oh don't worry, I haven't forgotten him. I actually purposefully left him out of the previous Stage because I had plans for him in the future. Stay tuned. ;)**_

_**And to ChimaTigon, this is actually going to lead into a tangent.**_

_**I have not done a poll before reading this post, but I now currently have a poll going on right now that you can read on my profile. Please give me feedback, especially those who have read and enjoyed Cross Tag Character Collision - namely the RWBY fans. I have not gotten much traffic on it so far and am eagerly waiting for more responses, so please check it out if you want to see me write a more story-driven/novel style series in the near future!**_

_**With all that said and the shameless plug set aside, let me know your thoughts and what else you'd like to see! Thank you all so much for reading, have a wonderful evening, and I'll see you all later!**_


	15. Stage 13: No Upgrade Required

One of the integral elements that could make or break a match for different Fighters in the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, was the "Final Smash." Designed in the third tournament, Final Smashes are where a Fighter obtains an item from Master Hand dubbed as a Smash Ball, which gifts them with incredible power to do an astronomical attack on their opponents. And it's different for every Fighter, taking advantage of their different skills.

Mario for example uses "Mario Finale" a move where he launches massive fireballs across the screen, which according to him, is essentially an upgraded and more refined version of his Ultra Flame from Super Mario RPG. Sonic is permitted to summon the seven Chaos Emeralds to temporarily allow him to transform into Super Sonic. Kirby uses the Ultra Sword, a larger and impossibly strong version of his own Sword Kirby power, and several other fighters use either similar transformations or weapons. Some like Mega Man, Shulk, and to a lesser extent Fox and Falco, even summon the aid of their allies.

Either way, Final Smashes are awesome. Some are even developed more and more over the course of Tournaments. Dedede once summoned an army of Waddle Dees to storm his opponents, before moving to a move he called "Dedede Burst" where he absorbed an opponent, smashed them with his hammer and then blew them up with a bomb, before finally moving to a move called "Dede-Rush" where he utilizes the Masked Dedede and hammer upgrade introduced in Super Star to crush his opponents. Pit was also one of these cases, where first summoned the aid of Centurions from Palutena's army, before using the Three Sacred Treasures, then finally using the Lightning Chariot.

For some, Final Smashes were an evolving concept. And the CPUs were well aware of this. Which is what ultimately lead to Neptune arriving to the Lastation Basilicom with a request.

"What's that you said?" Blanc asked.

"Mewtwo wants to change his Final Smash," Neptune replied.

"But why?" Noire added.

"I dunno," Neptune replied. "Said it had something to do with that Pokken game that came out awhile ago. He wanted to change so instead of going Mega Mewtwo in his Final Smash he instead transforms into that Shadow Mewtwo thingy."

Vert perked up upon hearing what Neptune was talking about. At first she was playing a multiplayer game with Uni at the couch, but in her shock, she accidentally gave Uni the win.

"Hm," Blanc said thoughtfully, "well I don't think there's any problem in that. I mean, Mewtwo hasn't battled in a Final Smash match before, so it shouldn't be an issue to change it. What do you guys think?"

"I think it's fine," Noire said. "I'd like to see what he has in mind first before making a choice, however. Just to keep it fair. Vert?"

"I... I'm uncertain," Vert replied.

"What? Why?" Blanc asked.

"Perchance," Vert replied, "have you played Pokken Tournament?"

"No," Noire replied. "I don't submit to the mainstream Nintendo peripherals."

"That's pretty hypocritical when you're hosting Smash," Blanc said, a hint of red on her cheeks. "But I only played a little bit of it, myself."

"I did not play," Neptune replied. "Because I forgot about it."

"Well I played it," Vert replied. "And I must say, Shadow Mewtwo is... concerning."

"Well," Blanc said, "let's go to see him and see what he has planned. Neptune, did you already go and see Master Hand about it?"

"That I did," Neptune replied. "We're all good to go, me amigos."

"Uni, hold down the fort for me, sweetie?" Noire said.

"Okay," Uni said, waving to the CPUs as they all left.

* * *

Later, the CPUs all touched down in the streets close to the housing district where the Fighters were staying. Hovering in the middle of the road without a care in the world was the Legendary Pokemon they were looking for, Mewtwo.

"Hello Mewtwo," Blanc greeted. "How are you doing?"

"_I am doing well,_" Mewtwo replied telepathically. "_How are you all?_"

"We're fine," Blanc replied. "But we understand you wanted to see us about changing your Final Smash. Something about 'Shadow Mewtwo' you said?"

"_That is correct_," Mewtwo replied. "_Would you like to see it?_"

"Sure thing," Blanc replied. "But let's relocate to someplace a bit more out of the way."

Before long, the group arrived in the middle of Final Destination so they could not risk anybody being hurt by the oncoming attacks. The CPUs all transformed into their HDD forms as per Mewtwo's requests. Save for Vert, who was standing as far away as she could.

"Vert? What's wrong?" Purple Heart asked.

"I do not want to get in the way of this," Vert replied. "I'm standing far over here where it's safe. I at least hope."

"You're being a bit overdramatic," Black Heart replied. "Go on Mewtwo. Show us what you have in mind."

"_As you wish_," Mewtwo replied with a nod. A Smash Ball was dropped down in front of him, which he crushed with his tail, gaining the multicolored, flame-like aura of the energy that would allow him to use his Final Smash.

In a flash of dark light, Mewtwo turned into a dark version of himself, with pitch black flesh, and amber colored crystals jutting from his shoulder. His power had certainly changed, but it wasn't just that which got the CPUs attention. What was even worse was the overall aura he was giving off. He seemed far more sinister while looking at them, as if there was an evil intent behind his look.

Before the goddesses could even consider regretting this, Mewtwo slashed at them with an amber blade that shot out of his arm, knocking them into the air! He stunned them with an electric energy that pulsed from his body, before he finally summoned a planet-busting sphere of dark energy that he shot at the goddesses, vaporizing them on the spot!

They all respawned in their base forms, all of them looking rather worse for wear. Vert looked at them with minor surprise. Yet in her heart she knew that this was not unforeseen.

Vert, having played Pokken Tournament, knew just how powerful Shadow Mewtwo really was. He was the final boss of the game. The M. Bison or Shao Khan if you will. And as such, was the most game breaking character. He was one of those final boss characters from a fighting game that was so impossibly strong that essentially, when you get him, the game is snapped in two.

But even still, such power was impressive enough to beat three out of the four CPUs in one fell swoop? Able to fight them she knew was possible, but able to beat them in practically one shot was a bit too much. And it made her fear Shadow Mewtwo that much more.

"What... the hell... just happened...?" Blanc asked.

"Shadow Mewtwo," Vert replied.

"That doesn't..." Noire uttered. "How?"

"If you had played the game," Vert replied, "you'd understand that Shadow Mewtwo is nigh invincible."

"_Shall we, try it again?_" Mewtwo asked, having returned to normal.

"I dunno bud," Neptune said, stretching her back as she stood back up. "That was a bit-"

"Let's do it," Blanc said, a frighteningly determined expression on her face!

"What?" Neptune asked in surprise. "You want to do that again?"

"I want to survive it!" Blanc replied. "There's no way that move can be so powerful every single time!"

"_Okay,_" Mewtwo replied. Before the CPUs could even transform again, Shadow Mewtwo caught them in his attack and knocked them all out once more!

"Ow!" Neptune and Noire yelled in a heap on the ground, upon respawning!

"Again!" Blanc said, holding up a bloody arm!

"No!" the others replied.

For several minutes, Mewtwo kept on annihilating the CPUs, while Vert watched them go down with feigned interest. Finally it got too much for Neptune and Noire to bear and they demanded that they stop!

"No more!" Noire said. "Just no more!"

"I can't tolerate this!" Blanc said. "I have to figure out just what in the name of all things good is making him so abnormally strong! We've been at nearly full health every time we've respawned yet he kills us each time!"

With a mighty cry she transformed into Next White and aimed her weapons at the cloned Pokemon! "Come on you muthu-!"

She got knocked away on her own this time, sending her into the same flurry before she respawned! "Gah!" she yelled. "No!"

"So..." Neptune said. "Does he get the Final Smash or not?"

"Not!" Blanc replied. "None... just... none of that! That thing is way too freaking strong! How in the world he could be allowed an instant kill move no matter what percentage his opponents are at is unacceptable!"

"Well," Neptune said, looking to Mewtwo, "sorry about that."

Mewtwo merely shrugged. "_It's no trouble,_" he said. "_It was merely an idea._"

He teleported away, as Neptune looked back to find Blanc continuing her ranting. "Uh... Blanny? You alright?" she asked.

"No! No I am not!" Blanc replied.

"Well, what should we do?" Noire asked.

"The only thing that's gonna calm me down," Blanc replied, "is finding the bastards that programmed that piece of shit and shoving a Master Ball down their throats!"

She stomped away, dragging her hammer devilishly behind her! "She'll be fine," Vert replied. "Just let her blow off steam."

The other CPUs decided that it'd be best they just go about their days and continue their work. They let all the Fighters know that new Final Smash moves were hereby unallowed in the same Tournament, no exceptions. Merely buffs or debuffs to encourage balance amongst those stronger or weaker than the majority. In addition, they all made sure to let them know to steer clear of Blanc until further notice.

* * *

Epilogue:

* * *

"Hey, speaking of clones," Neptune said thoughtfully, "yo Nep Jr., what did you do with Nepgya?"

"Huh?" Nepgear asked. "You want to know where she is? Oh don't worry. I found a good place for her to be kept~" she replied, a distinctly sinister expression on her face, punctuated by a rather devilish giggle.

Neptune shuddered a little under Nepgear's tone. "W-woah... Jr. That sounded suspiciously whenever Plutia gets Sadie mode. Now I'm a little worried."

* * *

Meanwhile, Nepgya stood perfectly still with her derpy, meme ridden face firing off on all cylinders. Then, a fist connected straight with her, launching her into the stratosphere! DK taunted by shaking his hands at the nonexistent crowd, before Nepgya reappeared in front of him. Donkey got off the platform, allowing Captain Falcon to take his place, shooting a Falcon Punch directly into Nepgya's gut, launching her straight on into the distance!

As a special request to Master Hand that Nepgear herself had made, Nepgya was used in place of the nostalgic Sandbag for Home Run Contests and Training for Fighters to needlessly abuse. This was becoming especially clear to Tails and Captain Toad as they watched Cloud take Captain Falcon's place, delivering a crushing hit with his fully charged Limit Break Buster Sword, that sent Nepgya flying into space again!

"Uh..." Tails said. "Should... should we do something about this?"

"W-what do you mean?" Captain Toad asked, every bit as disturbed despite his question.

"I mean..." Tails said. "That poor Nepgya is being... terribly abused..."

"Well..." Captain Toad replied. "She... she is an artificial human. And Nepgear did specifically request this. Plus, she's been at this for over a month now. So she should be fine. Right?"

Suddenly, Nepgya crumpled upon respawning on the platform, body covered in... oil? from the repeated injuries that she'd sustained.

"Nepgear did specifically ask for her to be repaired after every match, right?" Tails asked.

"I want to say yes," Captain Toad replied. "But I'm fairly certain now that is not the case."

"NEPGYAAAAA~"

* * *

_**A/N: This was another short chapter that I came up with fairly early on. I don't know why, but for some reason when Smash Ultimate first came out I thought that perhaps Shadow Mewtwo could end up being a Final Smash for the cloned Pokemon himself, and upon discovering just how terribly powerful he actually is, I thought of this.**_

_**I also discovered from this chapter that I totally need to give poor Blanc a break! I mean for crying out loud! Maybe in the near future I can do a chapter where Blanc takes a day off, only to discover that was a terribly idea.**_

_**Also, this is where Nepgya is. In case anyone was wondering. I also figured that I had a bit of a sadistic side for poor Rei and her. I'm actually surprised nobody commented about what Rei is up to as of yet. But, eh, it happens.**_

_**For Reviews this time around, not to many once again. For ChimaTigon who simply came up with "Tangent?" for the last chapter, in case you're wondering what Noire was ranting about, as Sans himself said that was far too graphic to be posted on this website. So you can't see it. And to the guest who requested Anonydeath messing with the girls. I concur! And anyone else who has more requests for other Neptunia characters showing up, let me know! I know we got at least one for Arfoire and trust me, she'll show up. Soon! And nobody can guess how she'll first appear, you just can't. You wont' figure it out, so don't!**_

_**Anyway, thank you as always for reading. Let me know any more suggestions you guys have, and your thoughts on any of the previous chapters! And until next time, have a wonderful evening! And take care!**_


	16. Stage 14: Are You Okay?

**Stage Fourteen: Start!**

Neptune, Plutia, and Uzume could only look on in amazement as Incineroar got launched through the air and collided with the jumbo screen on the Boxing Ring stage! They looked back at the stage itself, looking at the one responsible for the Fire Type Pokemon's ascension. Terry, the latest Additional Fighter of the Tournament.

Terry Bogard was one of the most iconic character from SNK's praised Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series of games. Though not as well known as the likes of Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter or those from the Mortal Kombat series, Terry was still an iconic and beloved fighting game character. So suffice is to say, his presence was welcomed in the Tournament, albeit with some reservation about him.

"Well," Terry said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head as Incineroar's limp body fell from the jumbo screen, which was left sparking with bits of broken glass behind him, "looks like I need a new opponent."

Unfortunately, those were scant few in number. Naturally, upon arriving in Gamindustri, the Hungry Wolf wanted to test his metal against some of the Fighters in an exhibition match before his first official round. Unfortunately, the King of Fighters Stadium that was to be his related stage was not ready yet, so the Boxing Ring worked the best for the time being.

Sadly, after Ken and Incineroar's reveal trailer, most Fighters were fearful of stepping into it for a match like the one Terry had in mind. So traditional brawlers like Little Mac, Ryu, Lucario, Captain Falcon, just to name a few, refused to get anywhere near that ring for fear of being launched into the jumbo screen. Which is precisely what happened to Incineroar after a few sets against Terry, not unlike what the other Fighters were concerned would happen. And this was unfortunate, as Terry was itching to catch up on the training he missed during relocation, with the most he got being fighting off some of his Fatal Fury/King of Fighters co-stars like Andy, Luna, and Iori just to name a few, after he got his invitation.

"You know Terry," Neptune said, "I don't know if you did that on your own accord or if this stage has a curse on it or something."

"Nah man!" Uzume said happily. "Terry's just that good!"

"Agreed~" Plutia said.

"Thanks you guys," Terry said, watching as Compa lead Incineroar away to the infirmary. "So, do you think we could convince somebody like Mac or Lucario to come over here or should I just wrap it up for today?"

He got his response as Uzume leapt over the ropes and landed in front of him! "Come on!" she said. "Show me what you got!"

Terry blinked several times in confusion, wondering if Uzume would be able to step up to him. Not only was she several feet shorter than he was, but she also had no visible muscle to indicate that she could both take or give a punch! All the same, she was a CPU, meaning she was more than likely stronger than the average man.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Obviously!" Uzume said.

Terry gave a shrug. "If you say so," he said, sending a punch to Uzume's face! She did retaliate by socking Terry quite solidly in the chest!

Terry grinned, despite the soreness he was now feeling. He delivered another flurry of punches, with Uzume ducking and blocking them in turn! She sent a few of her own, with a kick or two integrated into it! Terry was more than capable of blocking and dodging these in kind.

Terry was feeling better and better as Uzume kept up the pace! He felt his arms screaming as she rushed forward with a dozen punches with enough force to push him back as she sprinted forward! Terry knocked her away as he split his arms apart, before surprising her with a Burning Fist!

She merely laughed as she backhanded him in the chest! Terry sent a Power Wave attack that blew Uzume into a post! As she attempted to recover, Terry activated his Star Dunk Volcano, kneeing Uzume into the air, before grabbing her by the head and crushing her in a wave of fire!

Terry backed away from the smoke, as Uzume emerged, burnt but still going. "Haha! Yeah!" she laughed. She rushed forward, kicking Terry solidly in the chest so hard he flew into the lights!

"Wow," Neptune said. "Uzume's enjoying this!"

"Yeah~!" Plutia cheered. "Go Uzume~!"

Terry flipped on top of the lights, as Uzume jumped up and met him head on again! They both got locked in another grapple as Terry grinned in delight! It was clear both the Hungry Wolf and Zero Dimension CPU were loving every minute of this grapple! They both got hit several times with crushing blows but they kept it up! That is, until the lights collapsed!

They both jumped off the lights at the last minute to cushion their landing! As Uzume stood back up, she suddenly saw Terry rushing straight at her! The ground erupted in fire beneath his feet as he ran forward and grabbed her, before delivering a rocket fueled punch to the chest going, "Are you okay?" Uzume was blown into the air in an explosion by Terry's patented "Buster Wolf" technique, before careening down towards Neptune and Plutia! The fellow Planeptune CPUs dodged aside in time before Uzume crashed into the ground between them!

"Ow," Uzume said.

"Hehe, oops," Terry said. "Guess I got a bit carried away. Sorry Lady Uzume! Sometime's I can't help myself when I get in a really good match!"

"S'cool," Uzume replied. "I've felt worse. Just embarrassed I didn't get a chance to get a few more shots in. But that's what happens when you don't have as many flashy fisticuff techniques as the likes of you!"

"You did well," Terry laughed, jumping over to help her up.

"Nice going Uzume!" Neptune cheered, with Plutia adding, "Yeah~! You did great~!"

"Thanks you guys," Uzume said. "Damn! Was hoping I could win!"

"I'll admit," Terry said. "You hit harder than I thought you would. I wouldn't mind going a few more rounds with you again, later."

"Seriously?" Uzume asked hopefully. "I-I mean, sure. If I'm in the mood for it. To be honest, I've been itching to learn how to fight without my megaphone. So it'd be awesome to train with you some more."

"I might teach you a trick or two," Terry replied, adjusting his hat.

"Alright you two!" a new voice said. The group turned to see Ken leaping through the air and landing in the center of the ring! "Enough messing around! Now it's my turn to go! It's time we end this rivalry!"

Terry grinned happily. "Works for me," he said. "I've been itchin' to take you on since I first got here!"

The Planeptune CPUs all edged away from the ring as far as they could go, before Terry and Ken began going at it! "Oh man," Neptune said. "Good thing this ain't no Death Battle. I don't think the lawsuits for a company losing an iconic character would go over well."

"What's she talking about?" Uzume asked.

"I don't have any idea~" Plutia said.

However, their attention promptly returned to the fight as they saw just how intense it was going on! Terry blew up Ken in a wave of fire from his Power Geyser, but Ken retaliated with his flame powered Shoryuken, before entering a Tatsumaki Senpukyaku that throttled Terry into the ground! Terry got back up and delivered a shot put kick into Ken as the red gi adorned man landed on the ground! Ken jabbed Terry in the chin, before using a Focus Attack kick to the gut!

It was clear that these men were going for blood! This wasn't just a training match for them, this was personal! And despite the smiles on their faces, it was clear that something was to be proven in this match!

They soon became nothing more than a blur of motion, with punches and kicks being delivered left and right, even blasts of fire or energy exploding from the stage, with neither fighter losing any traction Terry would rake his knuckles across Ken's jaw, with Ken planting a foot into Terry's chest! It all got really overwhelming the more they cranked it up! The ring began to shake as the Fighters were taking things too far!

"O-oh Nepu!" Neptune said. "H-hey guys! Crank it down a notch!"

"Seriously~" Plutia said. "You're gonna break something~!"

"Are you kidding?" Uzume said. "This is awesome!"

"Not for the stage!" Neptune said. "Blanny's had enough stress to go around lately without an entire stage being broken! And you know she's gonna blame me for it if something happens here!"

Another explosion shook the stage as the two continued to keep up the battle! Cracks appeared in a few places, causing both Neptune and Plutia to start panicking! "Seriously! Guys! Stop!" Neptune yelled.

* * *

Nepgear had a pep in her step as she made her way to the Boxing Ring to see her sister, with Tekken following behind her.

"Thank you for informing me of Terry, Lady Nepgear," Tekken said. "Ever since my match against Ken and Ryu I was hoping for another Fighter like them to join the Tournament, and now I am feeling especially excited to enter a match with him."

"No problem Tekken!" Nepgear said. "It's great to see you this excited!"

Before long, they reached the Boxing Ring where the CPUs of Planeptune lead Terry for his training matches. "Hey Neptune, guess wha-?" Nepgear began, before witnessing the events transpiring inside the Stage.

"Terry! Ken! Think of the children!" Neptune called, holding her hands over Plutia's eyes!

"Yeah! Go! Go! Go!" Uzume cheered, her eyes hungrily taking in the bare knuckle slugfest going on!

"Ken and Terry snapped~" Plutia said. "No fair! Me too~"

"Plutia don't do it!" Neptune and Uzume said fearfully.

Nepgear had a firm expression on her face, as she carefully reached inside and closed the door, calm as a cucumber. "I have the worst timing," she said, as she promptly turned and began walking away, leading Tekken along behind her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vert was having a stern meeting with Mr. Sakurai. It was one of the first times that a CPU outside of Blanc had conversed with the director of the Smash Tournaments himself, but there was something that Vert was rather miffed about that she needed to discuss with him. And from the manner in which Sakurai himself was massaging his brow as he sat against his desk, he was not taking what she had to say seriously.

"Lady Vert," he said, "I appreciate how... passionate you are about this topic, but there is nothing that can be done at the moment."

"'For good boys and girls,' is what you said if I recall?" Vert asked, sitting in front of Sakurai with her arms crossed beneath her chest, with one leg draped over the other, and a rather angered expression on her face.

"That was merely a joke," Sakurai said. "There is far more going on within the finer details that make it decidedly difficult-"

"She is one of the most iconic characters in the series!" Vert said angrily. "How could you keep the stunning example of womanhood that is Mai Shiranui out of this Tournament as a background character!"

"The censors would not allow it," Sakurai said. "If anything that 'good boys and girls' joke was designed as a jab to the censors. It was not my call. And you know if I could, I would most certainly include her in the Tournament officially."

"But you didn't!" Vert said. "You get characters like Bayonetta censored, but you won't even push for Mai?"

"If she were censored," Sakurai said, "that would go against her character style, which is _supposed _to be arousing to men. Frankly, not doing anything to sensor her was in its own way, a compliment. And like I said, Lady Vert, you know I had every reason to get Mai featured, but it was like attempting to swim upstream."

Vert pouted immensely as she slumped in her chair. "It isn't fair," she said.

"No. Not it is not," Sakurai conceded. Even the lord of Super Smash Bros. powerless in this case.

* * *

_**A/N: And Terry joins the fight! One more to go from the initial Fighter Pass and who knows for Fighter Pass 2!**_

_**This chapter was pretty basic, but I still enjoyed it. I liked playing off of the idea of Ken fighting Terry a bit, and I had him fight Uzume because... I dunno. It felt right. I also poked fun at Ken and Inceneroar's reveal trailer which had Little Mac and later Ken himself launched into the jumbo screen, this time having Incineroar be the next one along in the pecking order.**_

_**And of course, how could I not make reference to the infamous event that was Mai Shiranui's lack of appearance in Smash Ultimate! Now you can rest easy in knowing that Mai will make an appearance in this series in the near future! Just because she isn't featured as a Spirt or something, doesn't mean she can't still appear as an NPC. I plan to have a chapter in the near future that showcases a few of these types of characters, so you can relax on that.**_

_**But yeah, I kinda gave my two cents about the whole Mai thing, but in case you're wondering a bit more detail about it: I do think it sucks that Mai isn't shown at all, but I do honestly think that having her get censored by having her wear some black bodysuit or something beneath her outfit would be sort of against her character, considering the idea behind her outfit choice and overall fighting style from what I understand is supposed to be arousing for men in order to lower their guard and have them be easier to fight. So censoring her in some way would just be against her character, which I know would not be okay with Sakurai given how much he likes the King of Fighters series. Do I think there was some other work around? Yeah, but sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles in the broken as hell media that permeates the world at large nowadays.**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To ChimaTigon: I have heard about Reimu being a potential character in Smash! I do not know that much about Touhou Project, but I can't deny that having a magical girl in Smash would be cool, as I'm always happy to have more female representation.**_

_**To NexusPrime42: Personally, I steer far away from the possibility of having characters from Smash interacting with Disney characters like Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. The closest I would like to get to that area would be the likes of Bendy or Cuphead, and that's only because they're modeled like old school cartoon characters. But, yeah, I think a lot of other people have the same consensus that having characters like them in this just breaks the foundation of what Smash is, since it's a video game built for video games, whereas Mickey Mouse and co. are the picture definition of simple cartoon characters. Not to mention the whole deal with the Disney empire at large that's been consuming companies for years now like some bizarre, eldritch amoeba just making people uncomfortable. While I say I'd be cool with Sora, the whole matter of Disney characters in Smash is a loophole black hole by itself.**_

_**And finally, to Neptunia56: I don't plan on having Nepgya in any other chapters unless a really good idea comes to mind, since I feel she's perfectly fine where she is now. And of course I've heard of Sayonara Wild Hearts, but as to if I would decide putting them in Smashdimension, I'm choosing to instead focus sorely on characters featured in Smash Bros. in some capacity thus far, and Neptunia obviously. A Rare Return was the exception obviously, since that idea was far too good to pass up. But, yeah, aside from that every character that gets used is somebody that is featured in and or related to Smash Bros. and Neptunia in some regard... Which reminds me of the number of Neptunia crossovers we've had so far... Hmm~**_

_**Anyway! Thank you all as always for reading, let me know your thoughts and suggestions, and until next time have a wonderful evening, and take care!**_


	17. Stage 15: Don't Lose Your Cool

**Stage Fifteen: Start!**

Uzume Tennouboushi lived a fairly chaotic life. For as long as she could (initially) remember, she had fought a neverending battle in a post-apocalyptic world against the seemingly invincible Dark CPUs until she met Neptune and Nepgear after they accidentally arrived in the Zero Dimension. Ever since, things had come to a massive change, and for the sake of the story we'll refrain from spoilers. All the same, the one thing which remains the same is the fact that her world was devoid of humanity, which leaves Uzume for the most part alone, save for the number of smaller, more social monsters.

Still, when Neptune came asking for help with the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, Uzume was happy to answer. Uzume's tomboyish, hyperactive nature definitely earned her the admiration from the different Fighters. They really got to like her, and vice versa.

Uzume itched for a chance to fight in the Tournament herself, but because she was not allowed, she settled for training matches against any Fighter that came to her asking for a match. Being a non-biased source, Fighters like Little Mac, ROB, Meta Knight, or Greninja were able to have a fair fight with her that amounted to making sure their strengths did not wane. Uzume loved it, and the Fighters appreciated her neverending spirit.

But of course, it wasn't just fighting that she did in the Smash Tournament. She was called upon the other CPUs to help in maintaining the inner workings in terms of items or stages, and naturally, there was also checking up the other Fighters whenever they needed things outside of a match. And while she was the first to say she wasn't one with a gentle touch, she was always happy to help however she could.

"Okay Incin," she said to Incineroar, "don't push yourself like that again, alright?"

The Pokemon replied with a growling noise, thanking Uzume for patching up his cuts from his last fight. The Heel Pokemon was one of the Fighters who grew particularly fond of Uzume, and she in turn adored him for his wrestler aesthetic, not to mention his fuzziness. She patted his head before the Pokemon walked away. As he did, he crossed paths with Pikachu, who waved to the Fire Type before proceeding to waddle by Uzume as well.

"Oh, hello," Uzume greeted happily. Pikachu gave a happy squeak in response, waving a paw at her as he continued to waddle by.

Uzume narrowly avoided cooing happily in response, feeling heat rising to her cheeks at the prospects of that adorable squeek and his charming wave. But naturally reinged herself in by reminding her of what she did to control herself in front of the cute monsters from back in her own dimension. Pikachu wasn't far off from them, after all he was a "Pocket Monster" so the same rules should apply. He just happened to be a type of monster that she wasn't used to dealing with.

She marched along, repeating phrases in her head to maintain her appearance. _Coolness. Combat. Bruises. Knuckles._

She thought quickly over what she might do next to rise her testosterone levels. Train with Captain Falcon? Feed Rathalos? Eat a bloody meal with K Rool and Wario?

"Hey Lady Uzume," she heard, causing her to stop and turn to see the Pokemon Trainer, or Red to his friends, sitting with one of the Inkinlgs. "Do you think you could give me a hand?"

"Sure thing," Uzume replied. "What's up?"

"Can you help me with this little thing?" Red asked. "They got filthy, no surprise there, and need to get cleaned before they go handling anything."

"Yeah, no issue," Uzume replied. "Neppy told me what happened when these guys first got wild, so I know how to handle em'." She walked over and sat down next to the Trainer, helping to hold the Inkling still as Red's Squirtle wet a cloth for him to rub the ink aside.

Uzume felt her heartrate increase as she did her best to hold the shifting Inkling still. The myriad of gurgling noises that came from them and their overall cutsey, downright chibi look made it hard for Uzume to hold back all the happy noises that threatened to come out!

_Oh goodness, _she thought, _these guys are way too cute! Oh, I've seen them play around before but I never saw just how cute they are up close! _

At one point, the Inkling let out a happy squeal as they flopped around and hugged into Uzume to get away from Red's attempts at cleaning them! Uzume laughed and held them back up, as the Inkling continued gurgling in cheeky delight!_ Oh, do they make noises like that normally? _Uzume thought. _It's too much! Uzume can barely take it! Would it be bad to try and have some Inklings live in the Zero Dimension too?_

_Oh we could have a whole little family living with the Baby Bugs and Doggoos! They could help paint the cities and make things all pretty and happy! Uzume could totally be like a loving big sister and protect the Inklings from all the mean, meanie monsters that would want to bully them-!_

"All done!" Red said.

"Huh!? Wha!?" Uzume said, waving the stars from her eyes as she was snapped from her daze.

"They're all clean now," Red said. "Thank you, Lady Uzume."

"O-oh, yeah. Ha ha. No problem!" Uzume said, letting the Inkling go and quickly running off before she risked losing her edge!

The number of charming characters that she had been bumping into was starting to mess with her head. Handling characters like Pichu, Olimar, Isabelle, or Toon Link was something she knew she could not risk if she were to keep up her manly appearance, which is why she typically asked others like Compa or another Maker to help her with a situation like that, while she ran off to find something else to do. She needed something to up her masculinity before the next ball dropped!

_Yeah! Hunting! Sports! Explosions! _she thought fondly.

"Hey Nepgear! Uni!" Uzume heard Pit say. She looked curiously as the angel ran over to his two friends!

"I got you these awesome crepes! You have to try them!"

Nepgear happily took hers, as Uni looked skeptically at Pit. "Really?" she asked. "Why would I ever eat that junk food? It's nothing but sugar and fat and it will destroy my body."

"Oh," Pit said, looking over the crepe in his hand with a tilt to his head. "Okay. No problem there."

He turned, looking hungrily at the two he was holding, licking his lips in delight. Uni looked at him with a shocked look, quickly running over and clutching his arm! "W-wait! D-don't just go eating it!" she said.

"Why?" Pit asked. "You said you didn't want it, right?"

"W-well..." Uni said. "I-I just don't want you to waste it, is all!"

"But I'm going to eat it," Pit said.

"Well you bought it for me," Uni said, "so it's only right that I eat it! To... to... to acknowledge your generosity, so there!"

She took it back, her face now beat red, taking a bite. She promptly let out a happy sigh, as she was amazed at the flavor!

"See?" Pit asked. "What'd I tell you?"

"D-don't get a big head over it," Uni said.

"Woah! Oh!" Uzume said from nearby. "How cute! Pitsy is all friendly with Gearsy and Unisy! Ooh! Pitsy should totally go on a date with Gearsy! And they could fall in love and get married and live happily ever after! Oh, Uzume would love to see such a happy couple spending time together!"

"Agh! Cough! Cough! Ahem!" Uzume struggled to regain her composure and force all the moe out of her system! She was determined to just march along and have her pride remain intact until the end of this Tournament! Not a single person would see her go 90s valley girl if she had a say in it!

She moved along until she found Sonic not too far away. He was merely sitting at an umbrella table with his arms reclined behind his quills, enjoying the cool afternoon between matches. Having grown attached the hedgehog, Uzume quickly ran over to him. She had a perfectly cool conversation topic she wanted to bring up with him!

"Hey, Sonisy," she said.

"Hm?" Sonic wondered, having heard the CPU approaching. "Oh, hey Uzume. How's it going?"

"It's going well," Uzume replied. "Say, Sonisy, there's something I wanted to mention to you."

"Sure thing," Sonic replied. "What's up?"

"I was thinking of getting a tattoo," Uzume replied.

"A what now?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah," Uzume replied. She moved her already open shirt to the side a bit to show off her belly and hip to her left side. "Y'see, I've been playin' this MMO lately, and my in-game avatar looks just like me. But I added a tattoo on her that looks super cool! Like some kinda spiky, wavy pattern thing! It looks awesome, so I was thinking of actually getting that tattooed onto my belly like in the game!"

"Huh. Not bad," Sonic replied. "But you sure you wanna do that Uzume?"

"Sure!" Uzume replied. "Why? There a problem?"

"I dunno," Sonic replied. "You just look fine as it is."

"Aw, thanks Sonisy," Uzume said. "But I'm sure the tattoo will make me look 10x cooler!"

"No," Shadow said firmly. Both the hedgehog and goddess jumped up in shock as the black hedgehog spontaneously appeared beside them!

"Shad! Where'd you come from!?" Sonic said, catching his breath.

"I sensed something idiotic going on with you and one of our goddesses," Shadow replied. "And shock of all shock, I find you acting childish once again."

"I am a child," Sonic said. "Need I remind you I'm only fifteen? And seriously Shad, you're not physically fifty! You were in some kinda suspended animation or something! So you don't have to act like some bossy grandpa!"

"Somebody has to make sure that you don't go encouraging our goddesses to do something foolish," Shadow said. "It just so happens that I'm the one."

"Ah, come on Shadsy!" Uzume said. "Look, if I showed you my character, you'd know how cool it'd look!"

"No," Shadow said. "I'm not gonna let you just jump right into a choice like that. Let alone a tattoo so... lewd."

"Oh~" Uzume said. "Is somebody all flustered~?"

"I'm just making sure you make smart choices," Shadow said. "You're the single CPU of your own dimension, so it's only natural that you learn how to act maturely and responsibly since you have a literal civilization on your shoulders alone."

Uzume smiled as she knelt down and patted Shadow's head. "You're too kind, Shadsy," she said.

"Don't patronize me," Shadow replied.

"yo, uzume," the goddess in question heard, causing her to look over at Sans as he was standing next to her.

"Oh, yeah Sansy?" she asked.

Sans suddenly held up Kirby to her. "hold this for me," he said.

Before she could react, Kirby was plopped into her arms, the baby Star Warrior looking up at her with a curious look.

"Where did you get Kirby?" Sonic asked.

"where else?" Sans replied. He didn't elaborate, both hedgehogs clearly not seeing that as a proper response.

"That... that doesn't answer anything," Shadow said.

Uzume on the other hand didn't even bother questioning it. She felt the heat rising to her cheeks again as both she and Kirby made similar looks at one another. _Don't do it! _Uzume thought. _Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't you dare do it! For the sweet love of Sega don't-!_

"Hi~" Kirby said, waving happily at Uzume.

That did it.

Uzume ended up in a ball on the ground, holding Kirby close to her chest and babbling like a 90s valley girl all the while, with numerous Fighters, Makers, guests, or even NPC citizens looking at her with rather confused looks! "He is so cute! Uzume can't stand how cute he is! Uzume just wants to cuddle and squeeze him till he pops!"

"good work kid," Sans said to Kirby. "works every time."

Sonic merely let loose a sigh, as Shadow rubbed his brow. It looked like Uzume's chances of getting out of the Smash Tournament without letting a single bit of moe slip was up in flames thanks to one trolling skeleton.

* * *

_**A/N: This one was just a quick little chapter that I thought of making as something of a joke. Anybody familiar with Uzume Tennouboushi, like you should because she is **_Uzubae_**, you'd know she has a bit of a habit of breaking down from her tomboyish outward appearance into what the games describe as "a valley girl from the nineties." Typically it happens when Uzume is "daydreaming". And naturally, I figured that somebody who at her core is a nice girl with a positive outlook and tendency to fantasize, I thought she'd get a bit overwhelmed by the amount of cuteness from Fighters in Smash like Pikachu, Inkling, and of course Kirby.**_

_**Nothing more than that. Like the Rei Stage this was done mostly just to mess with a character with a fatal flaw. This one was done a bit more wholesomely because I freaking LOVE Uzume.**_

_**On a side-note, the whole Uzume having a tattoo thing is in reference to her redesign in Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online, where she does in fact have a tattoo positioned around the left side of her waist. It looks freaking metal, and somebody obsessed with being cool like she is, I thought she'd consider actually getting it.**_

_**Initially I was going to have Sonic go full on "Dad mode" like he was with Nepgear and try to keep her from doing that, but then I remembered that Sonic is still immature and has the same coolness factor Uzume does, so he honestly wouldn't care that much. So that lead me to Shadow.**_

_**Recall that Sonic Adventure 2 was released initially on the Sega Dreamcast, the console which Uzume personifies, and was the last main series Sonic title released on a Sega console. Naturally, since Shadow was technically "Born" on the Dreamcast, here you have the perfect work-around "dad character" for Uzume. Perhaps some more with that can be thought of in the future.**_

_**Not much else to say about this. Just a fun, and if I may say so myself, "cute," chapter about Uzume losing her cool. (getit?) **_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To ChimaTigon: Thanks a bunch for the link! I actually found an article not too long ago that mentioned Inside-Games did a poll with over 3k people and Reimu was ranked 13th place most requested character. A couple other more "niche" more Japanese related characters were listed as well like Arle Nadja from Puyo Puyo, at 9th place, Altria (Which I believe means specifically "Arturia Alter") from F/GO at 15th place, which surprised me. Namely because it was specifically Arturia Alter and not just base Arturia Saber, but hey. People like edge. (I mean, do you know how many people prefer Jalter over Jeanne D'Arc?) But I digress. I can see a lot of people want to see Reimu, and I'd be interested to see if she could make the cut! I, uh, don't need to tell you what "niche Japanese" game series I'm pushing for, yeah?**_

_**To 3 Question Marks: I can certainly assure you that Sothis will have a presence in the story to come. And perhaps, she will be noticed by a certain, other goddess as well~ To give you a hint, it's another goddess with green hair.**_

_**To Zindakku Hirokai: I can totally agree that Blanc should take a break eventually, and hey, that premise fits with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Maybe she takes a day-off or something and without the goddess of Nintendo around to keep everyone else in line things go to chaos? That's a fun idea. And I think that Playstation All-Stars idea works well too, I'll keep that in mind! And as for Hatsune Miku becoming a Fighter, that one is a bit of a hard say. While technically Miku is related to Sega, and has had a number of rhythm games, do you think she necessarily counts as a video game character? I mean, technically, she started as just a program. A voice synthesizer. She didn't even have a real character! Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to it, but there'd be a lot of rough specifics to talk about there.**_

_**To Neptunia56: Yeah, Terry and Ken will certainly have to pay Blanc back for the stage! Maybe they provide her some funding to go to one of Nook Inc.'s islands! XD In all seriousness, I haven't considered R-18 island as of yet. Although I feel just a conversation about that with some of the more "innocent" Smash girls would be interesting and entertaining to see. And I think Umio and Pirachu should show up at some point, totally! (Kinda dropped the ball to have Umio show up in this chapter but, eh, what can you do?) And I think Pirachu meeting Pikachu would be hilarious, so I will definitely do a chapter about that.**_

_**And to the guest who mentioned Plutia being in Akame Ga Kill. No! N-O! The multiverse at large cannot contain the insanity of Iris Heart beyond the borders of the Neptunia series! Even this is bad enough with all these intermingling characters! Which reminds me, I need to do a follow-up chapter of Plutia "punishing" the other naughty Smash characters.**_

_**With all that said and done, let me know your thoughts and suggestions! I'm gonna be going more into request based Stages now that this series has gotten off the ground some, so if you guys have any suggestions for how to change up the flow, let me know! You guys have some great ideas, so hopefully now that you've seen what this series has to offer, keep the requests coming! Until next time, thank you for reading, have a wonderful evening, and take care!**_


	18. Stage 16: Non-Player Showcase!

**Stage Sixteen: Start!**

Before this chapter begins, please for the love of all things good, DON'T GO POSTING SPOILERS ABOUT PERSONA 5! ALRIGHT! I MAY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE GAME ALREADY, BUT FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE WHO HAVE NOT, DO NOT GO SPOILING THE GAME! With that said, hope you enjoy. ^^

/

For the numerous Fighters in the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, a privilege among many is the ability to let their friends or even rivals from back home come over to the Tournament to act as spectators. Or NPCs if you will. This even counts for those that are classified as "Additional Fighters" to the Tournament.

As such, the Phantom Thieves of Heart had come to Gamindustri to see how their leader would fair against the other Fighters. Suffice is to say, thus far, watching how he seemed to always find himself getting into shenanigans even outside of a match, it was quite unlike anything that they had expected to see. Today in particular, Joker had entrusted his team to their own devices, leaving Makoto Nijima, Ryuji Sakamato, Anne Takamaki, Futaba Sakura, Yusuke Kitagawa, Goro Akechi, Haru Okumura, and Kasumi Yoshizawa to wander the streets of Lastation on their own.

"Well," one Makoto said as the group walked through Lastation's streets, "I think that we can all agree that this Tournament has been quite eventful thus far. Yes?"

"Oh yeah," Ryuji agreed. "I mean, have you seen half the crap our Leader has been telling us about those CPU girls?"

"I will admit," Anne said, "they certainly aren't like any goddess I would have expected. Lady Palutena seems a bit more... appropriate?"

"They're certainly fun," Haru laughed.

"Speaking of our leader," Yusuke said. "Where did he run off to?"

"Well," Goro said, "he said something about going off with Lady Neptune to find some broken sword. Apparently they're going to try summoning a Pokemon from the Galar Region to the Tournament for 'fun' as they claimed."

"Senpai has certainly been more lively," Kasumi laughed. "I mean it seems like every time he is done with a match, he sees us for a minute before he runs off to one of the CPUs."

"Yeah," Futaba added. "As if how he normally is wasn't enough to live with."

"Well," Anne added, "at least life isn't boring."

The group continued to file around themselves for awhile, before they all settled down to grab a bite to eat. They found a local cafe and sat down at one of the outdoor tables, pulling up multiple chairs to satisfy the lot of them, as they continued speaking to one another with drinks in hand. As they did, Goro's keen eyes spotted a familiar face walking from nearby, naturally looking over to see who it was.

"Ah, greetings Zero!" he said to the Maverick Hunter himself as passed by on the sidewalk. He stopped in place and turned to the Phantom Thieves member, waving casually.

Zero had certainly been a lively NPC upon becoming an Assist Trophy, typically found walking around and interacting with anybody that needed help. "Hello there," he greeted. "It's lovely to see you all. How have you been?"

"Quite well," Makoto greeted. "Would you care to sit with us?"

"Well, that's awfully kind of you," Zero replied. "But I do not have to eat. So I'm afraid I will have to decline."

"That's okay," Haru replied. "You can still sit. After all, I think somebody would like to learn more about you!"

"Shh!" Futaba said, a blush on her face as she hushed her teammate.

"Hmm..." Zero said, thinking it over. "While that is fair," he said, "I was also in the middle of a job at the moment. So I should really get back to-"

"What was that, handsome boy?" a flirtatious tone from nearby said. The group saw C-Sha, the Leader of Gold Third and Lowee representative walk over, purposefully leaning up against Zero.

Much like the CPUs themselves, the members of Gold Third all had their own followers, with C-Sha specifically finding herself in charge of the likes of those from the Mega Man and Street Fighter series, just to name a few.

"Hello, Lady C-Sha," Zero said, naturally uncomfortable with the Gold Third's close contact. "I was just informing the Phantom Thieves that we were currently in the middle of a job that _you _specifically asked my help with, since they were asking if I could sit with them."

"Well why didn't you say so?" she asked. "Why don't we pull up a seat?"

"Yes! Please!" Ryuji said, suddenly finding himself very enthusiastic by C-Sha's presence.

"So," C-Sha said, pulling up a chair, "how have you all been enjoying Gamindustri?"

"It's been a great experience," Yusuke said. "The closest we've gotten to such an experience is our trips to Mementos, which at the end of the day is not quite a hospitable place."

"Yes, I see," C-Sha said. "Well we here in Gamindustri pride ourselves on our hospitality to all those from other dimensions. Isn't that right, Zero?"

"Yes," Zero replied calmly. "That would be correct."

"Why don't you tell them about the first time I brought you and X to Gamindustri?" C-Sha asked.

"T-that won't be necessary," Zero replied, looking away from his Gold Third.

"Is there a problem?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"Oh nothing so much," C-Sha replied. "I just get a kick outta teasing this boy. I really gotta give credit to these Reploids for being able to simulate human emotion so seamlessly."

"Really?" Futaba asked, scooting closer to Zero. "I mean I've heard about it, but I didn't know you could really simulate human emotions to such an extent."

"Why yes," Zero replied. "We Reploids can simulate human emotion to such an extent, we are nearly indistinguishable from human beings."

"Fascinating," Futaba said, wide-eyed as she looked Zero up and down.

"You'll have to forgive her," Makoto said, noting Zero's befuddled expression. "Futaba is a bit of a tech brain herself. While not as 'lethal' with her fascinations as the way Sonic described Nepgear to us, she still has her own quirks."

"Makoto-san..." Futaba said, face reddening slightly.

"I understand," Zero said.

"So why don't you tell me," C-Sha said, "have you all made any friends around here?"

"Friends?" Ryuji asked.

"Yeah," C-Sha said. "I mean you can't expect me to believe you haven't gotten to know anybody here. Especially when there are so many NPCs!"

"Well I don't know about anybody else here," Ryuji said, "but I find I relate to K.K. Slider on a spiritual level. Sans the goofy skeleton, too."

"Is that right?" Goro asked.

"Heck yeah," Ryuji said, flashing back to a moment that he had with Sans.

* * *

One day, Ryuji had approached Sans with a request for his salvation. Turns out, the Phantom Thief had naturally gotten himself into a pretty bad situation at the moment and was doing whatever he could to find the means to survive. Also well aware that his teammates would sooner throw him to the sharks rather than do anything to help him.

Sans hid Ryuji behind a conveniently shaped tree, just as Solid Snake had approached the skeleton with a rather firm expression on his face. "Alright, what did you do with it?" Snake asked.

"what'd i do with what?" Sans asked in a cheeky manner, looking at the agent with his perpetual smile.

"You know what I mean," Snake replied. "The control for Metal Gear REX. The CPUs had asked me to grab it for them, and that Ryuji kid decided to mess with it like it was a toy. The Metal Gear smashed its head into the walls of Shadow Moses, and is now stuck there until we find a way to get it out. Which we need the control for. So where is it?"

"i dunno," Sans said. "i've just been sitting here looking at this conveniently shaped tree. wanna look at it with me?"

"No," Snake replied firmly, turning and going on his merry way to look for Ryuji.

"okay, you're good," Sans said.

"Thanks Sans!" Ryuji said, coming out from the tree, gasping and panting for breath.

"y'know," Sans said, "while i'm not one who typically acknowledges authority of a basic level, i would say in this case it might just be easier to bite the bullet."

"Trust me," Ryuji said, "the last thing I want right now is to be held accountable for a Stage nearly being destroyed! But if I gave this thing to Snake, or God forbid, Lady Blanc, I would be crushed! I'm gonna look for somebody a little more... understanding?"

"okay," Sans said. "good luck with that. maybe later we can hit up grillby's."

"Sure," Ryuji said. "That sounds good! I heard from Lucas and Mario that you took them there. But... I do question how you got there."

"i have my ways," Sans said simply, delivering a shrug with a wink, before he slipped away.

* * *

"He is quite the character," Anne observed.

"Agreed," Goro nodded.

"How about you, Miss Nijima?" Zero asked.

"For me personally," Makoto said, "I find Marth's friend Caeda to be a very intelligent and admirable woman." She punctuated her point with a memory of her own of one of the first times she spoke with Caeda.

* * *

Makoto was positively floored by the fact that she was actually not only looking at, but petting a real life pegasus. The creature was certainly majestic and proud. Typically these creatures are thought of as pretty creatures made from little girls' fantasies, yet this one showed that they were actually powerful and imposing creatures despite their association.

"He seems to like you," Caeda said, as the pegasus nudged itself closer to Makoto, as the Phantom Thief continued rubbing the creature's head.

"It is still impressive to think you ride such a creature into battle," Makoto said.

"Well," Caeda said, "while I may have been the princess of Talys, that certainly did not mean that I was going to merely sit idly by and do nothing in the event my kingdom was in danger. I would much rather fight and protect it directly."

"You are certainly an impressive individual yourself, Makoto Nijima. The way you harness that Persona to help change your world by altering the hearts of its people, truly shows the strength of your ideals."

"Oh, no Caeda," Makoto said. "I'm nowhere near as admirable as you. I mean, I could never imagine being a warrior princess like you. Let alone a soon to be queen."

Caeda's face flushed as she laid a gentle smile on the engagement ring on her finger. "Yes," she said. "While that certainly is impressive in concept, I know if you and I were to switch places, you could easily step up to the challenge. It merely requires a bit of... experience."

Makoto looked back at the pegasus, stroking its mane a bit more thoughtfully. That is, until from nearby the princess and the phantom thief heard a loud 'bang!' They both turned to see Morgana and a pair of Inklings stuck on top of a runaway Devil Car as it crashed its way down the road, with Pikachu, Rush, and IF and Compa giving chase!

"Somebody stop this crazy thing!" Morgana yelled.

"It's your own fault for messing with it!" IF yelled.

Makoto and Caeda looked to one another. "I don't suppose," Makoto said, "you've ever had to deal with a situation like this, your majesty?"

"Believe it or not," Caeda replied, "yeah." The two mounted Caeda's pegasus and began giving chase!

* * *

"Agreed," Yusuke said. "She certainly is ahead of her time."

"What about you, Yusuke?" C-Sha prodded.

"Hm..." Yusuke said, eyes gliding to the sky. "Well for me, I would have to say Miss Yuri Kozukata is quite an elegant individual. She is understanding and wise. I also find Shovel Knight to be an honorable individual."

That second one took a few of the others by surprise. "Shovel... Knight?" Kasumi asked.

"Yes," Yusuke replied bluntly. "His armor is quite a sight to behold, and his sense of honor and chivalry goes unrivaled."

"Well," C-Sha said, "I suppose everyone has their own style. What about you, Goro?"

"Oh, me?" Goro asked. "Well, I can't deny that Alucard certainly does have my attention."

"Oh yeah!" Kasumi said. "Alucard is a really impressive guy!"

"He's always kinda intimidated me," Haru said.

"Well," Goro said, "you merely need to know how to talk with him."

* * *

"Mr. Alucard," Goro said, finding Alucard walking down a path in Leanbox one day. "I hope you don't mind if I call you that. I was wondering though if I may talk to you."

"Certainly," Alucard said. "What can I help you with?"

"Well," Goro said, "I do not think it's a secret that your father is none other than Count Dracula himself."

"Quite," Alucard said. "I do not keep it a secret. However, I do not let it define me, either. In fact, I do my best to refute that fact."

"Yes," Goro said. "And that is quite admirable of you. However, I do wonder, what is it that particularly drives you to stand oppose to your father's tyrrany."

Alucard looked straight ahead, his eyes somewhat glazed over as he looked ahead. "My mother was a human," he said, "and my father was a vampire. Already you can imagine that is looked at as something of a sin in the eyes of the rest of humanity. My mother was killed under accusations of witchcraft and as such my father's evil, which at that time had been somewhat snuffed out by the light of my mother's presence in his life, caused him to declare war on humanity and destroy them all for their crimes."

"Yes," Goro said simply, "humanity can be ignorant and heartless. Specifically to things they do not understand."

"Yet," Alucard said, "it's hardly the entirety. I have met a number of good and kind humans in my past. Not only Richter, but also his ancestor Trevor. Both of whom are inspirations to the best humankind can be. And there are several more out there, including ones I have not even met myself."

"So you prefer," Goro said, "to look at the best of mankind. Whilst your... father, preferred to look at the worst."

"If you wish to look at it that way," Alucard said. "Though I will say, it's best to always recall the best that mankind can be. Because if you only worry yourself with the worst, you can only expect the worst of everything in life."

Alucard parted ways with Goro, as the Next Detective Prince watched him go with a curious look on his face. "What a very interesting man," he observed.

* * *

"Well," Zero said, "that was a very... deep conversation between the two of you."

"Goro's a deep guy," Ryuji said simply.

"So how about the rest of you ladies?" C-Sha wondered, looking to Haru, Anne, and Kasumi.

"Well," Haru said, "I haven't talked to a lot of the NPCs myself, yet I have tlaked quite a bit with Compa!"

"Ah," Zero said. "One of Lady Neptune's human companions."

"Yeah!" Haru said. "She's a very sweet and nice girl. I've happily helped her out in the past in healing other Fighters."

"She actually reminds me a bit of you," Kasumi said, tilting her head to the side.

"Sure enough," Anne said.

"Maybe that's why we get along!" Haru said happily.

"What about you, Anne?" C-Sha asked.

"Well," Anne said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"She got pretty cozy with Blue Mary," Ryuji said snarkily.

"Hey!" Anne said. "Why don't you know how to keep your mouth shut!?"

"Blue Mary?" Zero asked.

"One of the recent additions from Terry's world," C-Sha said.

"It was a bit hard for me to not get close," Anne said. "She's very friendly."

* * *

"Hey, Takamaki!" the fighter herself said, catching the attention of Anne as she was walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh, uh...?" Anne said, failing to remember her name, as she had only met her in passing before.

"Blue Mary," the woman herself said, patting Anne on the shoulder. "It's okay that you don't remember. So, how're you doing?"

"Oh," Anne said. "Uh, good. How about you?"

"Fine," Mary replied. "Just kinda been looking around right now. This Gamindustri place is something else, isn't it?"

"Y-yeah," Anne said. "It definitely is." She was a little bit thrown by Mary's casual attitude, acting as if the two were already on friendly terms with one another. Whilst Anne herself was certainly not against becoming friends, but she figured it'd take some time.

Blue Mary herself naturally noticed the younger girl's attitude, and merely shot her a smirk. "Hey," she said, "it's okay, you don't have to worry. I'm chill. You can just act open around me."

"If you say so Mary-san," Anne replied.

"Oh, you can just call me Mary," Blue Mary said. "Just drop the whole honorific thing."

* * *

"Ever since then," Anne said, "she's been giving me some good fitness tips. She's a really good person."

"Oh! I know what you mean senpai!" Kasumi said. "She's a super inspiring woman!"

"Now that I'm thinking of it," Makoto said, "you've gotten close to one of Caeda's friends, haven't you?"

"That's right," Goro said. "You're close to one of Caeda's acquaintances."

"Oh yeah!" Kasumi said.

* * *

"Oh... my... gosh!" Kasumi said, awestruck over Tsubasa Oribe's backstory. "You are so cool!"

"Thanks Yoshizawa-san," Tsubasa said. "You're not bad yourself. You said you want to be a professional gymnast, yeah?"

"That's right!" Kasumi replied. "I have sadly been in a bit of a slump lately, but my senpai is helping me get out of it! He's a really nice and caring guy."

"That's Joker, right?" Tsubasa asked.

"Yup!" Kasumi replied. "He might seem devious on the surface, but he's a really kind guy."

"I don't doubt it," Tsubasa replied.

"But you gotta tell me something, Oribe-san," Kasumi said, "how is it like knowing a princess like Caeda?"

"Oh, she's great," Tsubasa replied. "In a way, she's kinda like a senpai of my own."

The two girls proceeded to giggle.

* * *

"She's great!" Kasumi said again.

"Well," C-Sha said. "Looks like you all have gotten to get friendly with some of the locals. So how about Futaba?"

"Yeah," Anne agreed, "you've been pretty quiet the whole time."

The group looked where Futaba was sitting... or rather _was _sitting, as she was now completely gone! The Phantom Thieves began to freak out, looking around desperately to see where the redheaded navigator had gone!

"Where did she go!?" Ryuji asked.

"I don't know! She was here a minute ago!" Haru said.

"We have to find her! Now!" Anne said.

"Yeah! Senpai will lose it if he finds out we lost her!" Kasumi said.

"It's alright," C-Sha said, trying to calm them. "She couldn't have gone that far. And what is the worst that could happen to her? She's hardly a child."

"You don't understand," Yusuke said grimly. "Our leader will certainly destroy us if he finds out we misplaced Futaba."

"Joker has a bit of an older sibling relationship with her," Goro added. "And henceforth, he will certainly be a bit peeved if he were to hear that we lost her."

"Oh no," Zero said, rubbing his eyes.

* * *

Turns out, Futaba had crossed paths with a man by the name of Otacon that was currently showing her the work he was doing on a Mettaur. "So you see," he said, "Dr. Wily's augmentation of this device?"

"Yes, I do," Futaba said. "Very fascinating."

"I must admit Miss Sakura," Otacon said, "your interest in science is very admirable."

"Well," Futaba said, "I am a bit of a hacker myself and just can't help but have a fondness for machinery. I've thought about talking to Nepgear so I could look at that N-Gear handheld of hers, but Sonic's warnings about how she can get with tech has made me a bit... fearful."

"Yes," Otacon said, "the CPU-Candidate of Planeptune is quite unlike any kind of a scientist that I have ever seen before."

Not far away, Joker was walking past with Morgana hanging onto his shoulder. "Oh, hey Futaba," Joker greeted.

"Yo," Futaba waved.

The leader of the Phantom Thieves walked past, until he turned a corner, only to see the rest of his teammates continuing to panic!

"What in the world?" Joker wondered.

* * *

_**A/N: And through the flames of anarchy and chaos I have arisen back again to update SmashDimension Neptunia: Ultimate! Yes, it has been quite crazy over here in the past few weeks with classes wrapping up before Spring Break. And on top of that, there was details going on with our break being "extended" in the wake of the coronavirus, but having to do online courses after the week's end. And to top all of that off, dorms won't be opening up on my end at the end of the semester, meaning that all the stuff I left will have to be dragged back home with me.**_

_**So before we continue with this note, I do want to wish everyone the best and to stay safe out there. While I do think that a bunch of this panic is a bit exaggerated, I still hope that everyone stays healthy out there.**_

_**Onto the chapter here, this one more or less combines two ideas: The first being the Phantom Thieves getting to explore Gamindustri, and some more focus on NPC characters of the fic! In addition to Futaba meeting and interacting with Otacon, which I threw in as a gag for the ending.**_

_**I had C-Sha act all flirty around Zero due to C-Sha representing Capcom, so she's kind of Zero's own "goddess" not unlike how Blanc is Mario's and Neptune is Sonic's, though Gold Third aren't technically goddesses. Honestly I enjoyed making their interactions quite a bit.**_

_**The second thing of note is that I used the entire Phantom Thieves roster from P5 Royal, including Kasumi Yoshizawa, who is a precious patoot that must be loved at all costs. And once again I would like to remind you all to NOT spoil anything in the reviews for those that haven't played Royal or seen clips of it online... the latter of which is what yours truly did.**_

_**With all that being said, we have many of the NPCs that I decided to showcase. Not much else to say, this was very much a case of me thinking of characters to showcase that would have fun interactions with the Phantom Thieves that I used here. I decided to write flashbacks for some over others namely because I couldn't think of some. I hope that doesn't bother anybody.**_

_**I can't deny that including Tsubasa from Tokyo Mirage Sessions as a character to interact with Kasumi was especially fun, considering Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a crossover so to speak between Megami Tensei, the parent franchise of Persona, and Fire Emblem!**_

_**The whole ordeal with the others freaking out over losing Futaba was something that I had a lot of fun with, especially with them thinking of just how angered their leader would be with losing his little sister insert! Nothing else to say aside from, this one turned out being a fun chapter to write.**_

_**Anyway, with Fighter Pass 2 on the way, the hope of Neptune getting into Smash still remains in my heart! Especially in recent days with Megadimension being ported to the Switch in Japan! The 10th Anniversary of Neptunia is still going strong and I cannot tell you how hopeful I am!**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To ARSLOTHES: Honestly, I did think of shipping Pit with Nepgear initially as just a joke, but it has significantly grown on me over time. I namely just did it because I thought the two could relate quite a bit, what with the both of them being the butt monkeys of their respective universes and are blindly devoted to their respective goddesses. I think the two are just the most precious little things!**_

_**To 3 Question Marks: If you mean the Xenoblade request, don't worry. I will get to that soon. I've already made some notes about it, so I intend to get to all the requests I can. **_

_**And to Jacob9594: Yes. Nobody can resist Kirby's cuteness.**_

_**Anyway, thank you as always for reading and for your patience. And join us next time where we will introduce Byleth, and finally wrap up the introductions of the cast from the initial Fighter Pass. I fondly look forward to when the Fighter Pass 2 cast is introduced and we can include them too! Until next time, have a wonderful evening, and take care!**_


	19. Stage 17: Teach Them a Lesson!

**Stage 17: Start!**

Howdy doo! So, much like the last chapter I'm just gonna preface this one by saying - DO NOT SPOIL FIRE EMBLEM THREE HOUSES FOR THOSE THAT HAVE NOT FINISHED IT YET! That bein' said, hope you enjoy! ^^

/

Byleth was not what one would think of as an ideal teacher. For most of their life they were raised by their father as a mercenary. Still, when you consider that Byleth would be required to teach combat and strategy as much as simple book smarts, it actually makes a lot more sense.

Suffice is to say, the mercenary turned professor would go on to become the talk of Garreg Mach Monastery upon being welcomed in. They were certainly popular with the students of the monastery as well, no matter the house they belonged to. Naturally, upon being welcomed to the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, they only got more attention.

Leaving for Gamindustri later that day, with the knowledge that they would not be able to return to their normal teaching duties until after the tournament, Byleth was told that they should do their part to offer a final lesson to the students before leaving. And for such a major event as one of their professors joining the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, the church allowed for a special circumstance to arise in the form of allowing Byleth to hold a session with students from all three houses - The Black Eagles, the Golden Deer, and the Blue Lions - in addition to the enigmatic fourth house from the Abyss, the Ashen Wolves.

Clapping their book shut, Byleth put their full attention onto the class, with all the students brought together into a relatively large discussion hall. "I hope that gives you all a bit more context about the Super Smash Bros. Tournament," Byleth said. "And I hope this will allow you all to do the monastery proud when you move visit Gamindustri yourselves in the near future."

"Now before I leave for Gamindustri later today, if any of you have any questions you'd like to ask me, feel free to voice them now."

The students raised their hands and Byleth's eyes scanned around before selecting a student. "Yes, Petra?"

"Is it truth that you are not last Fighter, Professor?" Petra asked.

"Yes, it is true," Byleth replied. "I am not the last Fighter in the Smash Tournament and there are in fact six more Fighters planned in the near future. Whoever they are, I cannot say, as not even the hostesses of the Tournament, Gamindustri's own CPUs, know their identities. However, there is still plenty of speculation regarding whomever they might be. Next question?"

"Yes, Ingrid?"

"Do you have any theories about who the next Fighters are, Professor?" Ingrid asked. That got enthusiastic murmurs running throughout the students, as Byleth merely maintained a good natured grin.

"I can't say for certain," Byleth said. "However, I have faith in the selections that are to come next and maintain that they will make for more than satisfying challenges in the future."

"What about Goku?"

* * *

Far, far from Fodlan in Gamindustri, Blanc felt a terrible disturbance rush through her system. "Nope," she said. "Not dealing with that today."

Standing beside her, ROB tilted its head curiously.

"Don't worry about it," Blanc said. "I'm not. Now then, do you have all my belongings packed for the trip?"

ROB nodded.

"Good," Blanc said. "The sooner I take that week off, the better for my health."

* * *

Meanwhile, Byleth was not so relaxed. "W-what?" they asked.

Turns out, Caspar was the one who voiced the question. "I mean," he said, "he got that new game released recently. And people have wanted him for years! Why not have him in?"

"W-well... it-it's-" Byleth said, wondering how that question was even asked. "Goku is an anime character," they said firmly.

"So?" Caspar asked. "He's been in video games! Dozens of them! He has FighterZ recently and then on top of that there's that Kakarot game too!"

"That's besides the point!" Byleth said. "Goku was made for anime, and before that manga, first! He is not a 'video game' character by that definition! He's not eligible."

"But didn't Pokemon start as an anime?" Dorothea asked.

"What?" Byleth asked. "No! No, Pokemon started with the games!"

"But didn't the anime do more for the games?" Lysithea asked. "I mean they made Yellow, which was a tie-in to the anime, didn't they?"

"Yeah," Annette said, "and they included Jessie and James in Let's Go."

"That's besides the point!" Byleth said. "The games came first! I mean, aside from Pikachu in Yellow, the Pokemon don't even say their names like they do in the anime. That has to tell you something!"

"So does that mean no Spider-Man?"

"Huh?" Byleth turned to see Sylvain was the one who voiced this question.

"I mean," Sylvain went on, "he had his own game recently that blew up beyond belief."

"No!" Hilda said. "It'd sooner be Batman! He had the whole Arkham series!"

"Now you're both false!" Byleth said. "They're comic book characters! Having video games doesn't change anything! They're comic book characters first, made for comic books. Everything afterwards is add-ons."

"So does that omit Godzilla?" Ashe asked.

Byleth struggled to maintain their composure, taking a big breath as they did their part to try and relax. "Yes," they said. "Yes it omits Godzilla. Movie character first."

"Look," Byleth said, "I thought it was obvious but I'll put things into perspective. Super Mario, Metroid, Sonic the Hedgehog, Splatoon, Metal Gear, Star Fox, Mega Man, Kirby, Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, all of them started as video games. Every single franchise included in Smash Bros. started as video games first. Anything that came after like manga or cartoons is irrelevant."

"Characters like Goku, Batman, or Godzilla were created for things that are _not _video games. Nobody from any kind of franchise like that, can be in Super Smash Bros. Because they are not video games first. No matter how popular or even high quality games like FighterZ or Batman: Arkham are, it is unimportant. They are not video game characters at their core, so they can not be welcomed. Is that clear?"

"...So... I take it that means no Star Wars either, huh?"

Byleth felt their eye twitched as they looked at Yuri. Clearly he was just joking, but that was not enough for the mercenary turned professor, as it did spur a bit of discussion amongst the students. Finally, Byleth threw up their hands and walked away.

"Wait, Professor!" Dimitri said.

"Where are you going?" Edelgard asked.

They entered their office just off to the side, shutting the door behind them. Before any of the students could ask, there was suddenly a heavy 'thunk!' heard from inside. Before it was followed by another. And another. And a pattern began to emerge.

"Uh... P-Professor?" Bernadetta asked.

"What're you doing in there?" Mercedes asked.

"Hear that sound? *Thunk!*" Byleth said. "That is me *Thunk!* hitting *Thunk!* my head *Thunk!* against *Thunk!* my desk"!

* * *

The moment Byleth arrived in Gamindustri later that day, they were immediately grabbed by Compa for medical attention, thanks to the massive wound on their forehead from their repeated head smacks against their desk.

"So you felt some Blanc level stress, eh?" Compa asked.

"If that's what it's being referred to," Byleth said, "then all I can say is that my respects go to Lady Blanc."

"Sheesh. Sorry that happened to you Byleth," Neptune said, watching as her friend patched up the latest Fighter before a fight even started. "Well, welcome to the world of Smash!"

"Thank you, Lady Neptune," Byleth said.

At that moment, Palutena walked by, holding a laptop in her arms. "Excuse me," she said to Neptune, "do you know where your sister is, Neptune? She asked me if she could use this."

"Oh, sure!" Neptune said. "Follow me. I was gonna find her, anyway."

Palutena made eye-contact with Byleth as she walked by. And as she did, she couldn't help but feel something. Something distinctly familiar hidden in their eyes. "Well now," she said to herself, "it has been a while, hasn't it? ...Sothis."

* * *

_**A/N: And so, here we are! The final chapter for the initial Fighter Pass set! And boy, this one took a while. So, sorry again for the wait. Things are nuts on my end, but I am happy to finally get this out for you all!**_

_**So, Byleth. Not gonna lie, as a Fighter, I really love Byleth! They are a lot of fun. Sure, they're a little slow, but I can't deny that I still love playing as them and they have become one of my best characters. I knew from minute one, that despite the hate, I was gonna try out Byleth and see how they faired. And I am satisfied!**_

_**That being said, in terms of the chapter I can't say exactly what it was, but I can't deny that it was a lot of fun to think of all the students just asking about characters that could for no logical reason get into Smash for any discernable reason! In spite of quality games like FighterZ, Spider-Man for the PS4, or Jedi: Fallen Order, none of these characters can get into Smash, and I pray I don't have to elaborate on why!**_

_**That being said, I didn't put in a lot to this chapter because... I dunno, I just ran out of steam. But I feel I got the point across. **_

_**That being said, just earlier today as I'm posting this, it was officially teased that the first Fighter for Fighter Pass 2 is gonna be from none other than ARMS! And... alright.**_

_**I mean, I don't mind, but I just can't help but wonder what exactly the point is. There are already dozens of Spirits from ARMS, Spring Man and Ribbon Girl have Mii Brawler costumes and on top of that Spring Man is also an Assist Trophy. I just don't think there was anybody scrambling to get an ARMS character in Smash and just thought they weren't going to bother, namely because the main characters that they would have presumed like Spring Man were taken already.**_

_**But, who knows? I could be wrong! As for me personally, I'm not feeling the hype. Nothing against ARMS, I just don't find myself jumping on the hype wagon. But hey, if you are looking forward to whomever it is, all the power to you!**_

_**[Update: A few hours after posting this I realized I did not check Reviews in my rush to get this out so... Apologies! And thanks to ChimaTigon for reminding me!]**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To ChimaTigon themselves: I... Don't really know what you mean about Mario but I assume it's a G64 reference? If that is the case, uh, I need to watch that.**_

_**To Neptunia56: Yeah, the Champions of Hyrule can totally show up eventually. I think they're all cool characters and should use some showcasing!**_

_**That being said, I hope you enjoyed, and until next time, have a wonderful evening, stay safe and healthy, and take care!**_


	20. Stage 18: The Warrior Cometh

**Stage Eighteen: Start!**

Blanc knew she shouldn't be doing this. She had no right to do this. It was a terrible idea to do this.

Still, it was told to her by everybody, including herself, that it was high time for her to take a break for the sake of her sanity. The continued stress of running the Smash tournament was enough to put her continually on edge to the point that the 50% of her personality that was calm and very kuudere esc was utterly ignored in place of her violent and angered personality 24/7. It was somewhat understandable, hence why the one thing Blanc did not do was get into regular fights with the other CPUs, Makers, or just about everyone.

Recognizing the amount of stress she was under, it was suggested by just about everyone that Blanc take some time off to relax and enjoy herself. Told to her by her sisters, C-Sha, the other CPUs, and even Mr. Sakurai himself.

However, Blanc was naturally uneasy about the idea of leaving like this. She felt it was her personal responsibility to oversee the Super Smash Bros. Tournament as the CPU of Lowee. She thought that if she left, things would come apart. But she was repeatedly reasurred that everyone would keep things in order while Blanc took a week off.

"And you're sure you don't need any more advice?" Blanc asked C-Sha, talking to her over the phone as the CPU of Lowee was sitting on a beach chair on the sand next to the ocean, in one of Nook Inc.'s private islands. Blanc had gone to a real island getaway along with Rom and Ram, whom she naturally took with her to enjoy themselves as well.

"Don't you worry now," C-Sha said. "You enjoy yourself. You deserve it. I'll handle everything on Lowee itself, and the rest of Gold Third and I are working with the other CPUs and all the Makers to help ensure that the Tournament continues without a hitch."

"I know," Blanc said. "I am just worried if the others will be able to handle the Tournament without my input."

"We can handle it," C-Sha said. "I promise. Just enjoy yourself."

"Okay," Blanc said. "I just can't help but be worried. Not so much by their supervision, but in the event another unforeseen arrival happens."

"It'll be alright," C-Sha said. "Whoever is coming from ARMS won't be here for quite some time, giving you ample time if you want to extend your vacation, and there hasn't been another incident like what happened when Terry and Ken broke the Boxing Ring, so we'll keep an eye on everything from here."

Blanc took a breath. It was hard for her to merely just rest easy. It was in her nature to worry if things were out of hand. But at the same time, she knew that C-Sha, Mario, and even Sonic were more than capable of handling things, even with Neptune, Vert, or Noire going awhol. So perhaps she was just overreacting.

"If you say so," Blanc said.

"Relax," C-Sha said. "Have some fun with the twins. We'll keep everything fine here."

"Alright," Blanc said. "Good luck."

"Thanks," C-Sha said. "Have a good time."

With those words C-Sha hung up and returned to her assignments on the computer. It was a hard fought battle to convince most of the Makers into complying with their work, but eventually, things seemed to be rather relaxed. All the Makers were trusted to be in charge of Lowee, monitoring the NPCs and taking care of any tasks or quests, whilst C-Sha went to work in Blanc's place over the Tournament so to speak.

C-Sha was a rather lax individual, but unlike someone such as Vert, she was far more observant and aware of things than the CPU of Leanbox. She was much more observant and responsible, it was just she did things with an easy-going personality. Unlike Blanc, C-Sha was able to keep herself far more calm and level-headed. Henceforth why she was not stressing to the levels that Blanc normally would, and was able to ease herself into working in Blanc's stead.

In her sense, it was only natural to not overreact. Not only were the other CPUs still there, but Mario and Sonic also promised to help, plus there was the rest of Gold Third and the Makers and CPU-Candidates to assist them. There wasn't much to worry about. Plus there had not been another incident like with Banjo and Kazooie's welcoming party, so they had nothing to worry about... Right?

* * *

"Okay you two..." Hatsumi Sega said to her companions, Blossom Aisen and Ryuka. "We need to alert the people of Gamindustri well ahead of time about what is coming. If we don't, it could very well cause an multiversal incident. Whilst I warn the heads of the nation, I expect you two to watch my back and keep what's coming at bay long enough for us to prepare. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have one," Aisen said. "Why are you even bothering? I mean, you are not exactly the biggest fan of the CPUs."

"It's not so much them I'm worried about," Segami replied. "More like I'm worried about what's gonna happen if I don't, with the number of different realities interacting with this Bash Sisters Tournament, or whatever it is. And considering what is coming, I am immensely worried about what they'll do."

Leaving the others behind, Segami hurried her way over to Planeptune, where the CPUs would be more than likely found. It was no secret that Segami preferred a different a different group of characters that were similar though vastly different to the CPUs, but she was smart enough to know that if she didn't give them a head's up, it'd be doomsday for everybody.

As luck would have it, one CPU of the Hyperdimension's Planeptune sensed a great disturbance coming their way. The only relieving thing would be it would get her out of this meeting with the other CPUs, including Uzume and Plutia, and C-Sha. "I feel a disturbance in the code," she said.

"Please don't tell me you have another series reboot coming," Noire said. "It's bad enough I lost that bet with Vert about the Sakura Wars reboot."

"Oh yeah," Vert cooed fondly. "When are you going to hold up your end of the bargain?"

"You cannot _pay _me enough for me to streak through Leanbox!" Noire shrieked.

"No, nothing like that!" Neptune said. "Although I will admit I still want to see that. But I sense something monumentally annoying coming! Like a fetch quest at the tail-end of a video game. We're talking Great Maze levels of tedium heading over here!"

"Well that's... bad," C-Sha said.

"I'm sure Nepsy's exaggerating," Uzume said. "But she does now have my attention."

At that moment, Segami entered the office. "Alright, listen up," she said. "This is a matter of great importance."

"Oh look who it is," Neptune said in a snarky manner. "The Queen Bitch herself. How's it going ya bootleg Hatsune Miku looker?"

Segami grit her teeth in front of Neptune. "You know," she said, "you're lucky I'm here for the sake of all worlds you dead excuse for a console, or else I'd gladly let you and your backwater country go up in flames."

"At least I have a country," Neptune said. "What are you the god of, exactly? Jack and shit?"

Everyone's jaws dropped at the sight of these two! Neptune was swearing as much as Blanc! For those unfamiliar with this relationship it was enough to stun everyone! And even those who were familiar were impressed by the levels of animosity coming off of them, even with that taken into consideration.

"Okay... what did I miss?" Noire asked.

"I am Hatsumi Sega," Segami replied. "But you can call me Segami. I take it the purple headed commercial failure didn't tell any of you about me?"

"Oh wait," Vert said. "Is she from that crossover you had that we weren't invited to?"

"Yeah," Neptune said. "I kept it professional, but I can't deny it was some of the most rage inducing moments of my life. Honestly, I cannot stand how I was portrayed in that game!"

"Really?" Segami asked. "I thought it was some of your best work. We weren't forced to look at your face, you got to glorify IF and myself, and to top it off you technically died at one point! What's there to hate?"

"I reiterate," Noire said, "what did I miss between you two?"

"Oh not much," Neptune said. "You know those really awful shoehorned in characters in a crossover where you just want to see the characters you paid for but instead you're stuck with this backwards mascot in the spotlight? Like a really bad self-insert OC? Yeah, she's like the gunk scraped off of the absolute bottom of the barrel version of that trope. Because she's a bitch!"

Segami and Neptune got face to face with one another, growling at one another, appearing ready to lash out at any second!

"Okay! Stop!" C-Sha said. "I promised Blanc there would not be any damage in her absence! Now, Segami was it, you said you came here for a reason. What is it?"

"I'm here," Segami replied, choosing to ignore Neptune, "because a threat is coming to Gamindustri. A power unlike anything you have ever seen before."

"What would that be?" Vert asked.

Segami took a breath, as she got ready to explain.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pit was minding his own business in the city. His hope was to get his hands on a new weapon for him and Nepgear to look at. However, they were unfortunately not making any headway with the process.

"Did you get it?" Nepgear asked eagerly.

"No," Pit replied. "That Reyn guy is a hard sell!"

"Aw, poo," Nepgear said sadly. "I was really hoping to study how their weapons can affect Mechon. Well, what should we do now?"

"Not sure," Pit said, rubbing his chin. "Honestly this whole 'hanging out' thing, I'm still getting the hang of it."

"Oh, you do fine!" Nepgear said.

Not far away, Uni had been standing off to the side, casually curious about what Pit was talking about. And all the while she couldn't help but feel flustered while watching Nepgear and Pit interacting with one another. Because the more she looked at them, the more they started to blend together!

"Seriously," she said to herself, "just what in the world is with these two? Okay you both," she said, catching their attention, "don't you think it's high time we go meet some of those Fodlan students?"

"Oh gosh! You're right!" Nepgear said. "They must be here by now!"

"The students from Three Houses?" Pit asked. "Oh, right! Thanks a lot Uni! It's great to have you around!"

"Y-yeah, yeah!" Uni said, still flustered. "Don't go overboard!"

As they discussed, Ryuka walked near them, catching their attention.

"Oh, hello there," Nepgear greeted. "Aren't you another character from Noire's game?"

"Oh, yes," Ryuka replied. "I am Ryuka. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Aside from Lid," Pit said, "I don't think we've seen many people from... Gamarket, isn't it called?"

"Yeah," Uni replied. "And the latter is only because she's nowhere near as stealthy as Snake. I'm still confused as to how she thought nobody would notice a barrel with legs."

"She was probably more concerned with not making herself vomit... like she already did," Pit replied.

"Anyway," Ryuka said, "as entertaining as you three are, I have to go. I'm currently stuck with ensuring that your entire dimension doesn't get obliterated."

"Oh okay - wait! What!?" Nepgear said.

"What do you mean by, 'dimension gets obliterated'!?" Uni said.

"Oh... right," Ryuka said. "You didn't hear about that, did you?"

"Hear about what!?" the three kids asked.

"So what is this about-a?" Mario asked. He had been spending some time talking with Mr. Game & Watch, Banjo, and Kazooie, before he noticed the Candidates and angel begin to panic.

"Ryuka said that our dimension is at risk!" Pit said.

"Oh no," Mario said, adjusting his hat. "Please-a tell me we're-a not-a dealing with another Subspace or-a Galeem and Dharkon incident?"

"No," Ryuka replied. "Worse."

"Worse!?" Pit shrieked.

"How are," Uni said, "dimensional parasites, and 'divine' personifications of light and darkness not as bad as what we're talking about!?"

Ryuka sent a determined look to the Candidate in question. "Think about every ounce of logic and understanding over the laws of nature that you know of," she said, "and throw them all completely out the window. We are dealing with a force that is not restricted by any type of reality that you can even comprehend. That, is what we're dealing with."

Everyone was now even more panicked by that description. Just what could possibly be coming that could be foretold in such a dangerous manner?

They got a reply as Ryuka got a call from Blossom. "Yeah?" Ryuka asked.

"He's here," Blossom replied.

* * *

A relative army of Fighters, Makers, and NPCs were assembled by the central Terraportation Terminal for Planeptune, all waiting for the arrival of the force that Ryuka, Blossom Aisen, and Segami had warned the people about. All of them were well aware of the dangers that the likes of Subspace or the Lords of Light or Darkness offered, and if what was coming was truly worse, that meant that everyone that was physically able would need to fight. And unfortunately, some of them were not as brave as the others.

"W-w-w-w-w-w-why are we h-h-here?!" Bernadetta stammered. "W-w-we barely got here and w-w-w-we're not even Fighters!"

"I know what you're saying!" 5pb said. "It's hard enough for me just to interact with people, let alone fight alongside them against something that would make the Deity of Sin look tame by comparison!"

"Well it's not-a like being a Fighter makes it any easier!" Luigi said, with Lucas shaking like a leaf beside him!

"Ready up you sissies!" IF said. "It's here."

Everyone stood at attention as the surprisingly small form of their enemy finally came through the terminal. They were stunned as they saw a man wearing a white gi, not unlike Ryu, but differed from him with his curly black hair and more "realistic" asian appearance. But what baffled everyone even more was the fact that he ran in with a giant game console on his back. On the surface, there wasn't anything that made the army assembled outside see him as a threat on par with Tabuu or Galeem, let alone be more dangerous than them, save for the determined expression on his face that looked like he had truly come there asking for a fight.

"Ryuka, Blossom," Purple Sister asked, having transformed to be ready ahead of time, "just what exactly is this guy?"

The two women stared straight ahead, not breaking eye-contact with the approaching warrior. "...Segata... Sanshiro..."

* * *

"Balls! Balls! Balls! Balls!"

Everyone in the Planeptower was stunned, even Segami, as they saw Neptune beginning to panic as she dashed and ran around in a panic upon hearing from Segami that it was Segata Sanshiro that was coming to face them! It was no secret that Neptune was not the most responsible individual, often shirking responsibilities every time she had the opportunity presented itself. However, seeing her panic like this was severely out of character.

"I take it..." C-Sha said, still staring at the panicking Neptune, "we're missing something here. Again."

"Yes," Vert said, "I don't know of this 'Segata Sanshiro' myself. So I have no idea what the cause for panic is here. Is he really that bad?"

"Worse," Uzume said. Much like their Hyper Dimension counterpart, Uzume and even Plutia were both put on edge when they heard that Segata was coming. "Nothing can stop him. If he's coming here, our only hopes of putting him on hold is with a Sega Saturn or club zombies."

Everyone looked at the Zero Dimension CPU with baffled expressions. "What the fu-?" Noire began, before Neptune scampered over and grabbed Segami by the shoulders and started shaking her!

"You said that you came here with others," Neptune said. "Who are they!? Please tell me you brought Sakura! She might be able to reason with her boyfriend!"

"I missed her!" Segami said. "She's working on her remake! I brought Blossom Aisen hoping she'd be enough!"

Neptune proceeded to shock everyone once again by smacking Segami across the face... Multiple times. "That! Won't! Work! You! Stupid! Bimbo!" she yelled, smacking Segami with each word!

"Will you stop hitting me you crap bike!?" Segami yelled, smacking Neptune in return!

"I'm not a bike anymore you poor excuse for a god!" Neptune yelled, before getting hit again!

"Well you're no less junk as a brainless genki girl!" Segami cursed!

"Will you two just whip em' out and measure em' already?!" Noire yelled.

"Whip what out?" both Sega goddesses asked.

"Now that I have your attention," Noire said, "what can we expect from this Segata Sanshiro that makes you so nervous?"

"Everything," Uzume replied. This confused Noire, as it wasn't really a proper response. "That doesn't-" Noire began, before Uzume cut her off by grabbing her and shouting "EVERYTHING!"

"I'm excited~!" Plutia said. This took everyone by surprise and they had to do a double take before looking to her and saying "WHAT!?"

"Segata is my friend," Plutia replied. "He always does great things~"

"Well of course," Uzume said, "we won't be killed by him since we're Planeptune CPUs but think of everyone else here."

"Exactly!" Neptune yelled. "Why do you think I'm panicking!? If Blanny hears that Segata blew up Gamindustri while she's gone, who do you think is gonna be the one who kills us?!"

"Oh crap, you're right," Uzume said.

"Exactly!" Neptune said again.

"Okay, okay," Vert said. "So... what's the plan?"

"Well like I said," Segami said, "reasoning with him is our best option. He's just too powerful for anyone to stop him."

"Trouble is Segata doesn't typically have any logical reasoning lest he be beating the crap out of people for not playing Sega Saturn," Neptune added.

"Well that doesn't particularly help us," Noire said, "since nobody in their right mind would be playing a Sega Saturn within the past decade."

"Well we have to do something," C-Sha said. "We all promised Blanc we would look after everything in her absence. If something like the devastation you claim this Segata Sanshiro can wrought is allowed to occur, we're all in danger from more than just him."

"You three," Vert said, looking to Neptune, Plutia, and Uzume, "you all claimed that this Segata has no reason to destroy you since you're all Sega goddesses. Do you think you can communicate with him?"

"Maybe..." the three replied, in a tone that made it clear they weren't promising anything.

"Well it's better than nothing," Noire said. "Segami, when did you say he-?" She cut herself off as her phone rang, picking it up to see Uni calling her. "Yes sweetie?" she asked, her pigtails blowing out from the force of the scream that came back!

"**NOIRE YOU HAVE TO HELP US!**"

* * *

Captain Falcon could merely watch in horror, as Segata Sanshiro threw the Blue Falcon high into the sky where it proceeded to drop down like a nuke, blowing Donkey Kong, Luminary, Mewtwo, and Villager into the distance from the force of the explosion! Little Mac attempted to rush by with a punch, but Segata sidestepped around it, grabbing him by the back of the neck and tossing him into a line-up of Mega Man X, Chun-Li, Impa, and Tekken! Sensing another opponent approaching, Segata spun around quickly and kicked Cloud solidly in the jaw, creating a shockwave that blew Meta Knight, Ness's party, Knuckles, and Tifa away!

"Segata!" Sonic yelled, attempting to hold him off for the sake of his companions! "You have to stop this now! Whatever is going on, this isn't necessary!"

"I'm afraid," MAGES said, "it might be that there is no reasoning with him!"

"She's right!" IF said. "We gotta get a new plan of attack!"

"How can we," Terry asked, "when nobody can get near him!?"

Segata saw a group of villains approaching, grabbing onto King Dedede, before tossing him into Bowser, Ridley, and Ganondorf! They all slammed into a nearby building, causing an explosion that blew everyone away! And as if that weren't bad enough, a second explosion sounded off that further blew everyone into the dirt!

IF pushed herself up, ears ringing in pain as she struggled to regain her bearings. Segata was the only one standing, looming over the fallen army that had opposed him before. Purple Sister and Black Sister got back up, weapons in hand as they tried to do their part to keep the fight rolling.

"This guy is insane!" Black Sister said. "How is he so strong!?"

"I don't know!" Purple Sister said. "He's not channeling energy from another source like Shares. He's just doing things!"

"We can't even tell what he wants!" Black Sister added. "He just showed up and started fighting people!"

He caught eye-contact with them, causing the Candidates to freeze in fear! They raised their weapons, ready to fight! Or at least do what they could against him.

"Segata!" a voice from above roared.

Looking skyward, the CPUs were visible as they descended from above, Green Heart and Black Heart carrying C-Sha and Segami respectively as they moved to the side to help the recovering individuals, leaving the Sega CPUs to confront the man. "That's quite enough!" Purple Heart said. "Whatever you're here for, there is no reason for violence!"

Segata remained firm as he stared up at the CPUs. Finally, he fell to one knee in respect as he bowed before Purple Heart, Iris Heart, and Orange Heart. "My goddesses," he said. "I come for a moment of great importance. Honor was at risk, and nobody could get in my way, thus keeping me from my goal."

"Whatever do you mean?" Orange Heart asked.

"A promise must be fulfilled," Segata said. "I was told that the Sega Saturn's legacy would remain intact, by having its games come to the Nintendo Switch. When the allotted time of arrival passed, I thought I was lied to. So I came to show the power of the console, thus demanding its respect."

"Time out," Purple Heart said. "Blanny never said anything like this. Did you hear about this?" she asked the other CPUs.

"Of course we didn't," Black Heart replied.

"Yes," Green Heart added. "We heard of no such thing."

"Where did you hear that the Saturn would be coming to the Switch?" Iris Heart asked Segata.

"Saturn herself," Segata replied. "The SeHa Girl."

Purple Heart raised a brow, looking down toward where Segami had been dropped. "Pray tell," Purple Heart said, "did miss Hatsumi Sega have anything to do with that?"

"Yes," Segata said. "She had promised Saturn that we would have our time."

Purple, Iris, and even Orange Heart all looked down at Segami, who was looking very small by comparison. "I didn't know she would tell _him_!" she said in defense.

"Why would you even say that Switch would have Saturn games!?" Purple Heart said in anger.

"I talked with Blanc and she said she would think about it!" Segami said. "I owed the SeHa Girls a favor!"

"Saying 'Think about it'," Iris said, "does not mean it's gonna happen!"

"Segata," Orange Heart said, "I'm afraid that you've been deceived."

"I had that feeling," Segata said, "which is why I came to this Smash Bros. Tournament to exhibit the power of the Saturn. To show directly why it deserves its place on the Switch, and be remembered."

"Well," Black Heart said, looking at the fallen Fighters, Makers, and NPCs. "I think it's safe to say you've exhibited quite enough."

"Segata," Purple Heart said, "please head to the Neptower. We'll talk later. Compa, are you okay?"

"Yeah~" Compa's weak voice emerged from the wreckage.

"Good," Purple Heart said. "Please pair up with Dr. Mario and help everyone recover."

As everyone else began filing away, Segami attempted to sneak off. That is, until a hard chain wrapped around her leg! "Not so fast!" Iris Heart said.

With her blood sufficiently turned to ice, Segami looked behind her and saw the CPUs all standing behind her with murder in their eyes! "You're not going anywhere," Purple Heart said.

"H-hey now!" Segami said. "It was just a misunderstanding!"

"That may be so," Iris Heart said, "but you've still been a bad girl~"

"Now you have incurred the wrath of something equally as tyrannical as Segata Sanshiro," Purple Heart said. "Plutie, she's all yours."

"Oh I know she is~" Iris Heart said, grabbing Segami by the back of the head and dragging her away!

"W-w-w-wait a moment!" Segami said. "T-this isn't necessary! Come on, Nep, I'm sorry already!"

* * *

A few hours passed by, as everyone was nursed back to health. As much as Neptune or Uzume would have preferred not to, they did end up calling Blanc merely to put Segata's mind at ease. As well as to report the situation, given the insistence by C-Sha and the other CPUs.

"Well now," Blanc said, "while I can't say I'm surprised that disaster hit in my absence, I'm at least happy to hear that it was not necessarily brought by anything that was directly by you."

"Happy to hear that you're happy Blanc," C-Sha said. "We wouldn't want this bout of annoyance to get in the way of your vacation."

"So what's the situation with Segami?" Blanc asked.

"Well currently she's still in Sadie's possession," Neptune replied. "But when she's out, I'm giving her the boot outta here."

"Good to hear," Blanc said. "Nothing personal, but from what I've heard she's a lot of trouble. And the Fighters and NPCs?"

"Everyone is alright," Neptune said. "They're all recovering, but it might take a bit of time before the next match of the Tournament after the thrashing that Segata gave them."

"And speaking of which," Blanc said, looking at Segata. "I'm terribly sorry about the misunderstanding Mr. Sanshiro. I will... take up the matter with the Nintendo heads to see if they can provide you with your desire. But just be aware I make no promises."

"That is all that I ask for, honored CPU," Segata said. With that, he threw his giant Sega Saturn over his shoulders, and gave a salute to the CPUs. "The fight for the honor of Sega never ends. With that, I'm off! Until another day!"

He jumped out the window, falling to the cityscape below as everyone watched him.

"Well... that was rather haphazard," Neptune said.

The next moment, Plutia came in, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Oh, hey Plutie," Neptune said. "So, how's Segami."

"She learned her lesson~" Plutia said.

"MY EVERYTHING HURTS...!"

* * *

"You know," Nepgear said, "there is just one thing I'm left wondering."

"What's that, Lil' Gear," Sonic said.

"Why was Segata going to attack me if he respects all the Sega goddesses, no matter the console they represent?" Nepgear asked.

"Well... was he?" Sonic asked. "I mean, during that whole exchange he never touched you."

"Huh... go figure," Nepgear said.

* * *

_**A/N: Howdy! It's... been awhile, huh? Yeah, for those of you not following Cross Tag Character Collision, my other ongoing story, I was kinda left distracted recently with finishing up classes online due to this whole pandemic. It was a really rough time of operation that left me very distracted and unable to do the things I enjoyed, helped in part with me going back to work at the same time, having to juggle both my job and school. But now that Summer has more or less begun, I have more time to get to work! **_

_**With that said, we now have the long awaited arrival of Segata Sanshiro! I... really don't have much else to say. This chapter more or less in terms of its contents just kinda happened. I merely just took the idea and rolled with it, more or less making it up as we went. Hence why it's a bit shorter and there wasn't really a big action scene, instead left to exposition about how dangerous Segata was. Either way, I'm happy with it and think it came out fun enough. **_

_**Also, if those of you think I had Neptune kinda out of character when it comes to her interactions with Segami, I was more or less playing off of Segami's "bitchy" attitude in order to give Neptune the one thing she scarcely ever has, which is a foil who gets under her skin. And considering the massive hate-boner that Segami had for... almost anyone who wasn't a SeHa Girl in Superdimension, I figured she'd be a perfect fit. Think of it like the group were actors playing their roles in the game, but off-stage, Neptune secretly finds Segami to be monumentally annoying.**_

_**I hope that nobody thinks ilk of this, especially since I can see one of Neptune's greatest appeals being the fact that practically nobody on the protagonist side ever really bothers her.**_

_**One last thing as of note, going back to the precious chapter, a little known fact might be that I had Byleth referred to as "they' throughout the chapter, cause' I didn't actually know whether to have them as male or female Byleth. I have it set for Robin and Corrin, with Robin being their male variant and Corrin being their female variant, but I didn't have it set for Byleth as of yet. So, if you guys have your feel just let me know, as I'm fine with either of them! **_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To Neptunia56: Yeah, Byleth feels Blanc's pain, as intended. Also, those characters can totally appear soon! I have plans!**_

_**To ptl: In a Neptunia setting, meta is always a must no matter what setting it's in!**_

_**To Barrubo: I have heard of Reimu quite extensively, and I'm impressed by the dedicated following she has! I really admire it, and hope to learn more about Touhou in the future, even getting close to seeing the fan-anime made for it.**_

_**To 3 Question Marks: I am quite hyped for Definitive Edition myself! I would get the Collector's Edition but... y'know, expensive. I'll think about it when the time comes, but for now it's a no. Though that's not to say I'm not getting the game itself cause' you can bet I'm getting it!**_

_**To Jacob9594: Yeah. Byleth feels the pain.**_

_**To Lix231: I get what you're saying about Sonic and Plutia having a connection, and while I plan to have them together at some point, I haven't had the chance as of yet. Main reason I focused mainly on Neptune for the time being is the fact that she's the "default" Sega goddess, whilst Uzume and Plutia are limited to their respective realities. Once again, I get Plutia having a bond considering she's the "OG" goddess when compared to the others, but since Neptune's more of the mascot she got more focus as of now. But just take it that Sonic has a bond with all the Sega goddesses.**_

_**And with that all being said, I hope to get another chapter released as soon as I can! With that said, thank you for reading, and take care! Be safe and healthy, and have a good night!**_


	21. Stage 19: Armed and Ready

**Stage 19: Start!**

His opportunity was there... but it was now lost. He was betrayed. He had hope within his grasp, only for it to be ripped away.

And it was all because of _her_. That springy armed child that swept away what was rightfully his! And all with that smug smirk on her face!

He wouldn't stand for it. This was about more than just him. This was justice for all those that have had their rightful places in Smash Bros. pulled just out of reach! Who have had their hopes dashed for unjust reasons!

But to truly make this cathartic, he was going to need somebody else...

* * *

"Huh," Neptune said. "Why do I suddenly feel a threatening presence approaching."

"Big sis," Nepgear said, "please don't say things like that!"

"Why?" Neptune asked.

"Not only is it uncharacteristically observant of you," Noire said, "but it also happens nine times out of ten."

"Alright," Vert said, "enough you three. We have to stay focused."

Donkey Kong let out a disgruntled noise at that moment, as the group turned to see the ape nearly drop his wood pillars on top of Diddy and Squirtle, causing them to bolt so as not to get crushed! On the side of the newly implemented Spring Stadium Stage there was meant to be a replica of the Mintendo Noodle House that Min Min, the newly arrived Fighter from ARMS, worked at when she was not throwing her noodle arms into the faces of her opponents. And at the moment, many of the Fighters and Makers were assisting in the task of constructing the ramen house, as it was only decided to be implemented after the Stage itself was completed, and Master Hand was currently busy keeping his brother Crazy Hand from recreating the massive brawl of ARMS characters as seen in Min Min's reveal trailer... on top of including the SNK representatives from Terry's trailer.

The idea of allowing for a Mintendo Noodle House was not only a good idea for Min Min's sake, but for those other Fighters and even workers such as Makers or the CPUs themselves. Min Min would naturally feel more at home by working at Mintendo Noodle House in her spare time, but also it could act as a good relaxation spot for the Fighters when they were not in matches, or the Makers and CPUs when they were not working. And Min Min even offered to do all the meals herself, insisting that at least for a while she do all the work herself, which was kind to say the least.

"Are you sure you don't want anyone to help make the ramen, Min Min?" Fox asked.

"Yes," Samus said, "this welcoming party is meant to be for you. You don't have to make anything."

"Well," Min Min replied, "I wouldn't be a member of 'ramen royalty' if I wasn't willing to cook as much ramen as physically possible!"

"Your enthusiasm is... dramatic," Snake observed.

"But it's certainly not out of place," Roy added, "considering a lot of the faces we're used to seeing."

""Sure enough," Sonic said, zipping over with a collection of sodas in his hand for those that were still working.

"Thanks Sonic," IF said, wiping her brow of sweat. "I didn't realize how much Master Hand really came in handy until something like this happened."

"Maintaining already built Stages is one thing," Tekken said. "Building a part of a Stage is another thing entirely."

"And it's a shame," MAGES added, "that _a few goddesses _can't offer some help."

"We're only here to observe," Noire said. "Don't think I missed that sarcasm."

"P-Please Lady Noire," Lucas said, "don't get upset! We're only just getting used to Lady Blanc being relaxed again."

"Correct," Captain Falcon said. "We would really prefer if all of our goddesses could keep their cool in these times."

They weren't wrong, as Blanc had in fact returned from her vacation, the time of r & r that she took part in having done wonders for her disposition. Naturally, the amount of dedication her followers were showing her in welcoming Min Min was also helping matters quite a bit. She was actually smiling here and there, which hadn't been seen in some time.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Noire said. "Besides, I agree with you both quite a bit about Blanc actually being happy again."

"How long do you think it'll last?" Neptune asked.

"Neptune! Don't tease her!" Nepgear said, cautiously looking at the CPU of Lowee in question, as she assisted in guiding Wario and Donkey Kong place down some of their wood beams in a careful game of Tetris.

"But she has a point," Vert said.

"How so?" Uni asked skeptically.

"Well," Neptune said, "don't you have a feeling that something's gonna give? It ties back in with the reference I made earlier in the chapter about 'something happening'? I mean... don't you think with the mascot of the game Minnie's from being an Assist will cause a bit of tension?"

"Trust me Neptune," Sonic said, zipping over to her side upon overhearing what she was saying, "a lot of us Fighters had the same feeling when we were told Min Min would become the next Fighter. Mario and I have been thinking about how to approach the situation to Lady Blanc without souring her mood all day."

Speaking of which, the plumber himself approached Blanc as she continued her observations of the construction work. "Lady Blanc-a," Mario said, "as-a happy as I am-a to see you relaxed-a again, I have to-a ask you-a something."

"Yes, what is it Mario?" Blanc asked.

"See, here's the thing Lady Blanny," Sonic said. "I think Mario, I, and a whole lot of the rest of the Fighters are wondering something about Min Min's selection. Particularly, how this is going to go with Spring Man."

Blanc's face dropped a bit as she heard the Blue Blur make his case. He really did not need to elaborate, as the CPU of Lowee already had considered what they were implying.

Spring Man was the mascot character of ARMS, appearing in all the promotional material and was easilythe most recognizable character in ARMS. His presence in the Smash Bros. Tournament as an Assist Trophy before a character in ARMS was considered for the roster spoke for itself, along with other iconic figures that existed purely as Assist Trophies such as Shovel Knight, Bomberman, and Isaac. The mere reveal that ARMS would have a legitimate Fighter added to the Tournament was enough to cause some controversy in Gamindustri as everyone was left wondering, if the Fighter was not Spring Man, who would it be? And the implications that Spring Man would evolve beyond Assist Trophy status was... let's say another can of worms.

Min Min made sense when they actually stopped to think about it, as she was the most popular character from the game, statistically speaking. And it was helped by the fact that the producer of ARMS himself, Kosuke Yabuki, went on record stating that he requested Mr. Sakurai and Master Hand that Min Min be the one. All the same, that didn't mean that concern over how Spring Man would take it was totally washed.

"I understand what you two are saying," Blanc said. "And I can assure you that I spoke with Spring Man even before I was told of Mr. Sakurai's choice. And he's fine with not being the Fighter representative. He's happy with his position as an Asssist Trophy. In fact, he actually showed up first to welcome Min Min to the Tournament, right Min Min?"

The ramen worker in question perked up upon hearing her name spoken. "Springy?" she asked. "Oh, yes. He was actually very welcoming to me upon arriving. There's no bad blood whatsoever about me being picked over him."

"Well that's-a good, "Mario said in relief, fanning his face with his hat.

"I'll say," Sonic said. "Glad to hear that there won't be any trouble revolving around that."

"And now I feel he just jinxed it," Neptune said. "Still, the idea that Spirits not accounting for a character's potential for being a Fighter is curious."

"Yes," Vert observed. "Unlike Assist Trophies or Mii costumes which can only become Fighters in following games thus far, Spirits were only presumed to have a similar rule. But now that we've seen for sure that Spirits can become Fighters in the same game, it's a question about what that could mean for future Fighters, if a similar occasion could crop up."

"Well I don't know about you," Neptune said, "but I'm starting to hear genie music in the background."

* * *

Going back to Spring Man, the Assist character in question was walking back to his room alongside Knuckles and Akira. "I gotta say," Knuckles said, "I'm surprised that you're so relaxed with the fact you weren't picked as the ARMS Fighter, Spring Man. I mean, while I was happy to be present in Smash in the first place, I was at least a little disappointed that I was chosen as an Assist Trophy and not a proper Fighter alongside Sonic."

"Well," Spring Man replied, "like you said Knuckles, I was happy to just be in Smash in the first place. And I would've been happy for whatever character got selected as the Fighter for our game. Whether it be Min Min, Twintelle, Ninjara, or even Dr. Coyle. I mean, Mr. Yabuki himself said that we're all the protagonists of the game."

"Well said Spring Man," Akira said. "So you said you had to grab your SN-Flipper, right?"

"Yeah," Spring Man replied. "I was gonna see if the Candidates or somebody wanted to go for a game while we hang out at the Noodle House. I'll meet you guys there!"

He waved to Knuckles and Akira as he broke off to return to the Assist Trophy housing to grab his game system. But as he moved, he heard a chuckle from nearby. "Hello~ Spring Man~" a voice said.

Spring Man went on high alert, arms turning into their spring form as he prepared himself for combat! However, as the figure emerged from the shadows, he left his cautious stance as he recognized who it was. "Oh, hey Waluigi," he said. "You surprised me."

Waluigi was uncharacteristically silent for a moment as he watched Spring Man with an analytical gaze. Spring Man himself was put on edge yet again as Waluigi looked at him with such intensity. He wasn't used to seeing the typically cartoony and hard to take seriously Assist Trophy character so serious.

"Uh... is everything okay Waluigi?" Spring Man asked.

"Oh, I'm just swell Spring Man," Waluigi replied. "But I-a couldn't help but-a overhear your talk with the others, about-a Min Min."

"Oh yeah!" Spring Man said, his enthusiasm returning. "I was telling them how happy I was for a fellow ARMS character entering the Smash Tournament roster!"

Waluigi went silent again, his face remaining unchanged as his eyes narrowed just slightly. Spring Man was surprised once more, as the purple clad mustachio continued to just look at him. "Happy," he echoed. "You're-a happy about-a Min Min."

"Uh... yes," Spring Man replied. "Yeah, of course I'm happy. I mean, I'd be happy for anyone from our game getting to join."

"So you-a mean to tell me," Waluigi said, edging closer to Spring Man, "that you're-a not-a jealous at least a bit-a, that it was Min Min that was-a chosen over you."

"Well..." Spring Man said, put off again by Waluigi's stance, "I mean, no. I'm not jealous."

"Oh come on-a!" Waluigi said, walking around with his arms outstretched, looking dramatically at the sky as he turned his back to Spring Man. "You can-a be honest with-a me! You must be jealous! You're-a the mascot of-a ARMS! You should have-a obviously been-a the Fighter in the-a Smash-a Tournament! How can-a you try to be so high and-a mighty by claiming that you're not-a jealous of having you're-a rightful place-a stolen by some-a ramen munching brat!"

"Hey!" Spring Man said. "That's my friend you're talking about! And you better apologize!"

Waluigi was silent as he remained still in place, Spring Man's bravado deflating just a bit. This was certainly not right. Waluigi was never this serious before, it was honest to goodness unnerving. Just what was going on inside his head?

"She's-a not-a your friend," Waluigi said. "You should have had-a the spot in the Smash-a Bros. Tournament-a roster. Not her. Why should she have had-a place-a over you? Because-a she's-a popular? Because-a your own-a producer preferred-a her over you? She-a took-a what was-a rightfully yours!"

"And it's-a happened to so-a many of-a us! Assist Trophies! The-a 'participation award-a' of the Super Smash-a Bros. universe! The-a 'honorable-a mentions'! Shovel Knight-a, Bomberman, Knuckles-a, Isaac, Lyn-a, so-a many of us that-a deserve to be in-a this roster! And-a we're all squandered!"

"Why-a do you think-a it's-a right that we're all-a left in the dust!? Why do you-a think it's-a right that we're abused!? Taken advantage of-a! We all-a deserve more!"

Waluigi put a hand to Spring Man's shoulder. "And-a I want-a you to help-a me," he said.

"... With what?" Spring Man asked.

"We're-a going to-a the CPUs to demand-a our retribution! To get the recognition-a we deserve!"

Spring Man continued to stare at Waluigi with a stunned expression on his face. A look of utter disbelief written on his features. "You're out of your mind," he said. "If you honestly think that anything you say is gonna sway me, to change what I believe about my friends, you've completely snapped!"

Waluigi had that same out of character, serious glare on his face as he looked Spring Man in the eye. "So be it," he said. "I-a hoped-a we could have-a worked together. But now I see-a that I must-a always stand alone."

"And if you think I'll let you attack the CPUs," Spring Man said, getting back in a fighting stance, "then you're even crazier!"

Waluigi did not react whatsoever. He merely snapped his fingers, causing what appeared to be a pair of headlights to illuminate behind him! Next thing Spring Man knew was there was a roar of an engine, as a rush of movement overtook him!

* * *

"You're a miserable miscreant! A sickening viper that hold nothing back against stamping your feet on top of everyone!" Takemaru was yelling this at the top of his voice as he threatened to pummel the small Maker Gust over losing a match of Donkey Kong Country... and his sword as a result. Zero and Yuri Kozukata did their best to hold him back, as 5pb stood protectively in front of Gust.

"Hey," Gust said, "them's the rules Takemaru."

"But you never once said that my sword was to be sacrificed in this disgusting game of yours!" Takemaru yelled.

"Calm down, please!" Yuri said.

"She's right," Zero said. "There's no need to get violent. I'm sure with some reasoning we can-"

He cut himself off, as he heard the roar of a car in the background! The group collectively turned to see the Wario Car suddenly rush down the street, Waluigi in the front seat cackling at the top of his lungs! And in the back seat of the car was a cache of Bob-ombs! Spring Man was holding onto the car for dear life, his arms outstretched as he was hovering over the air like a deflated kite!

The car rushed past the group, heading straight in the direction of Mintendo Noodle House! There was a collective twitching of eyes, as everyone recalled the incident that had happened a few weeks prior in Lowee. "Not again," they all said

* * *

The sound of the car's rapid approach was heard by the group standing in front of the nearly completed noodle house, before it was added upon by the cackling of Waluigi! Dozens of heads were turned to see Waluigi careening towards them, showing no signs of stopping!

"Not again," nearly everyone there said as well.

"What is he doing!?" Banjo asked fretfully.

"He's going to drive right into the Noodle House!?" Ken asked.

"I think," Sonic observed, "that we were a bit wrong in our assumption that it would be Spring Man who would be the problem child in Min Min getting into the roster."

"We have to stop him!" Samus said. "With that many Bob-ombs, he could cause a great deal of damage!"

"Yeah I ain't having this shit," Blanc said. She charged forward and turned into White Heart! She brought down her axe directly onto the front of the Wario Car, causing it to flip frontwards and crash into the ground, the load of Bob-ombs dropping down, but not exploding! Both Waluigi and Spring Man, on the other hand, were vaulted forwards, crashing right in front of everyone else nearby! For a moment, the two merely just lay face first on the ground, possibly unconscious as everyone else was left to watch them.

"Huh," Neptune said. "Well that was a bit anticlimactic."

"What're you saying!?" Nepgear said. "You _wanted _Waluigi to crash into the Noodle House!?"

When Waluigi rose his head up from the ground upon his crash, he was greeted with a sight of dozens of angry looking Fighters, Makers, and CPUs. "Waluigi..." White Heart's voice said threateningly. "You've got some nerve, you know that, you pathetic, purple, puss bucket!"

"After the stunt you pulled last time after Byleth was announced, you honestly think you can do practically the exact same shit!? Let alone expect me to not rip your asshole in half after it!?"

"Blanc!" Waluigi said desperately.

"That's 'Lady Blanc' to you, fuckface!" White Heart added.

"L-Lady Blanc!" Waluigi said.

"Actually, screw it!" White Heart added. "Make it 'Lady White Heart' you shitstain!"

"L-Lady White Heart!" Waluigi said. "You have to understand-a! I could have-a been in the Tournament! Spring Man-a should have been the ARMS-a representative!"

"That Min Min girl is-a overrated noodle-a muncher! She-a doesn't deserve to be in-a here! So-a many Assist Trophies - Shovel Knight, Bomberman-a, Isaac - they all-a deserve to be in-a the roster far more than-a her! It's a sin-a that she is here!"

"Fuck off!" White Heart yelled. "Don't try to pull this 'woe is me' shit on me! You just wanted an excuse to join the roster! Don't try and tell me that you care about the other Assist Trophy characters!"

"Now who's the one lying?" Spring Man asked, face still planted to the ground.

"To be frank," White Heart said, "I'd have a mind to truly ban you this time! To hell with what Master Hand or Sakurai say to me!" She brandished her axe with the 'Ban' still gleaming on the side of it. Waluigi was shivering in fear as White Heart loomed over him.

Before she could lift the axe, however, a pair of spring-like arms wrapped around him and pulled him to his feet. His own arms were pinned to his side, as a cautionary turn of his head revealed to him that it was Min Min holding him upright. "Actually, Lady Blanc," she said, "I would much prefer to have this one for myself."

White Heart raised a brow, as well as most of the others watching the exchange. Min Min still had a firm smile on her face, as her eyes were closed, arms coiling around Waluigi's body. "So you say I don't deserve to be here?" she asked. "And me being here is a sin?"

"Y-y-y-y-yes," Waluigi stuttered, feeling far less confident now. "W-w-w-what're you going to do?"

Min Min's face didn't change in the slightest. She didn't even open her eyes. She just continued to smile, as a plan was clearly hidden behind her.

* * *

Before long, everyone was enjoying some of the prized ramen served by Min Min inside the newly built Mintendo Noodle House! Neptune was slurping up heaps of ramen in her mouth, as broth fell down her chin, laughing in the back of her throat. Noire was sitting next to her on the same table, looking at Neptune with a disgusted look on her face.

"Ugh! Honestly Neptune!" Noire said. "Would it kill you to eat more civilly? You've got to be the most disgusting person here!"

Neptune pointed off in one direction, not opening her eyes as she savored her food. In the direction she pointed, there was Captain Falcon eating like his life depended on it! Sure enough, he was far more manly than Neptune could have hoped for, which put Noire in silence as she daintily ate her own ramen.

"I have to say Min Min," Link said, as the girl in question was standing dutifully to the side in her work uniform, her hands folded gently in front of her, "this ramen is as good as anyone could've hoped for."

"I'll say," Joker added. "This is as great as any curry I could've made under Sojiro's wing."

"Why thank you both," Min Min said. "It does my heart good to hear those that enjoy my ramen."

"Although, I will say," Dark Pit, off to the side on his own, "I'm surprised this was enough to calm down even that purple lunatic."

Sure enough, the dark doppelganger was not referring to Neptune, but Waluigi, as the mustachio was eating bowl upon bowl of ramen at his own private table. Every ounce of defiance he had was now gone as he was crying silently into his bowls. Not out of anger or resentment of not being a Fighter anymore, but rather out of sheer guilt.

"Well," Min Min said, "when you've got the pleasing taste of ramen, coupled in with some extra saki added to the broth for extra calming effects, one can't very well find the urge to be angry anymore."

"Ah~" everyone said.

"Min Min," Waluigi said, stumbling over to the ARMS representative. "I apologize for everything I've done or said to you. Your presence here is a blessing. Everything I did... I didn't mean it!" He began crying into Min Min's shoulder as the girl patted his back gently, going "there there."

From nearby, the CPUs watched them interact, curious looks on their faces.

"So... Waluigi ain't getting banned?" Neptune asked.

"I'll talk with Master Hand and Mr. Sakurai about putting some extra restrictions on him," Blanc replied. "But as they say, three strikes you're out."

For the rest of the night, everyone enjoyed the party welcoming Min Min, while enjoying some of her famous ramen.

* * *

_**A/N: And here we have Min Min from ARMS added to the game! As I mentioned in my Byleth showcase chapter, I am not much of a fan of ARMS, and wasn't really feeling any hype in having a character from the game as a Fighter, however I have to say that upon seeing Min Min... it was love at first sight.**_

_**In terms of her character, she looks like she could be a ton of fun! Spring Stadium as well is easily one of my favorite DLC stages hands down, right up there with Spiral Mountain! It is Casual Smash heaven, with me being a Casual boy myself. And the music... sweet merciful crap I want to play ARMS purely for the music! **_

_**But beyond that, Min Min as a character I just find great! She's positively adorable and I can easily see why she's the #1 most popular character from the game! Overall, I am happy with her selection! **_

_**And that brings me to the whole crux of this Stage, which was built around playing off of those trying to stir the pot by going "Is Spring Man gonna get in? Does this mean Waluigi!?" That sort of thing. Honestly, I was not happy about that and a part of me was screaming the whole time, "Please don't let it be Spring Man! I'll never hear the end of it!" And all I can say is that I'm happy that the Assist Trophy rule is still intact. Call me a wet blanket but, I just call it as I see it.**_

_**That being said, as I stated earlier through Vert, the idea of the nonexistent Spirit Rule being broken does lead to a lot of interesting possibilities. It'd be interesting in the future to see somebody like Shantae becoming playable, as she is easily among my Top 5 Fighters I'd like to see in Smash! (I don't need to tell you who #1 is: Nepu-Nepu.) **_

_**(Also if you couldn't figure it out, the whole "SN-Flipper" thing was something I made up, similar to the 32DS thing. It's a play off "Super Nintendo" and Flipper as an allegory for Switch. I was trying to be clever, please don't hate me)**_

_**Overall, I'm a fan of this Stage. It's not my total favorite, but I still enjoyed it and as always, I hope you did too! **_

_**[Post Post Note! I forgot to reply to reviews again! I am very sorry, but this is what happens when you post a chapter on half power! XD]**_

_**To justinq719: Yes. Segami is, or at least can be, an idiot.**_

_**To 3 Question Marks: Thanks for the feedback. I'll be sure not to be skeptical about having a snarky Nep! (Also thanks for pointing out that I forgot to check reviews this time.)**_

_**And to the Guest who mentioned that... really detailed note about Golden Freddy all I'll say is... If more people want it, I'll do my part to try and choreograph that.**_

_**So let me know your thoughts and requests, what you think of Min Min and the ARMS content, and who you think could be the next Figther! Until next time, have a good night, stay safe, wash your hands, don't hog all the goddamn toilet paper, and take care! I'll see you in the next one!**_


	22. Stage 20: A Next Gen Stomachache

**Stage Twenty: Start!**

It had been about a week since Blanc returned from her much needed time off and Min Min joined the tournament as the latest Fighter. Within that time, thankfully, there wasn't another incident like what had happened with Segata Sanshiro or Waluigi's tantrum. And with the obedience of (most of) the Fighters and support of the Makers, it seemed like things were gonna go over well moving forward with the arrival of new Fighters and continued matches.

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

That is, except for a very, very, very upset Noire. Upon hearing the CPU of Lastation cry out in such pain, Uni came busting down the door to her sister's bedroom, gun in hand, ready to eliminate any threat that may have come to attack her sister! "Noire! What's wrong!?" she said.

As she scanned the room, she saw that there was actually no enemy inside at all. Instead, it was just Noire alone inside her room, on her knees, clutching her stomach tight! She had a very disgusted look on her face, biting her lips as her skin turned green!

"Uh... Noire?" Uni asked. "Sis? What's the matter?"

"Guh! I don't even know!" Noire replied. "I just... ugh! My stomach is killing me! I haven't even eaten anything today, so I know I need to eat something, but nothing feels appetizing and this pain is driving me nuts! It almost feels like it's getting worse!"

Uni looked mildly concerned as she pulled her sister to her feet. She didn't particularly like the sound of that and her mind promptly went to the worst case scenario, which was if Noire might have been infected by a virus or something. "Let's, uh... let's just take you out and see if we can find something for you to eat, okay?" she asked. Noire complied without argument and the two left the Basilicom to go and get the CPU of Lastation something to eat.

As it happened, Pit, the rest of the CPU Candidates, Red the Pokemon Trainer, and a very intrigued looking Zelda and Rosalina watched as Little Mac came panting and sweating down the streets of Lastation, following Doc Louis on his bike! Zelda hit a stopwatch as he crossed by in front of them and looked at it curiously.

"How long was that?" Rosalina asked, scribbling on a clipboard.

"Forty-five minutes from Planeptune," Zelda replied. "Just as he said."

"Wow!" Pit and Nepgear said. "That's incredible!"

"So he wasn't exaggerating," Red observed.

"Told ya!" Doc Louis said. "Little Mac's got the goods!" He handed a smoothie to Mac, who raised it up in thanks, too tired to talk, and brought the cup to his lips.

At least, he tried to. Turns out, Noire appeared right behind him faster than anyone could see and swiped the cup from his hand. She gave it a sniff, hummed in awe, and proceeded to start chugging it on the spot!

"Lady Noire, wait!" Doc Louis said. "That's Mac's protein shake!"

But it was far too late. Noire held up a finger for silence as she proceeded to chug the entire thing in about five gulps, before wiping her mouth. "Boy," she said. "That was good. What was in that?"

"...Raw eggs, protein powder, sour pickles, granola, almond milk, vitamin-C powder, and ground up pollock," Doc Louis replied.

Noire's eyes widened in awe as she looked back down at the drink she just finished off. "Well," she said, "I would be more disgusted if it wasn't so delicious."

"Ehhhh?!" everyone said in awe. They were all wondering just how Noire could've found that concoction anything other than positively revolting!?

"Sis?" Rom asked. "Is Noire trying to be funny now?"

"If she is," Ram replied, "she's still really bad at it."

"You... you mean you didn't find that gross!?" Red asked Noire.

"Not really," Noire said. "In fact, it calmed my stomach immensely. Thanks Little Mac."

She handed Doc Louis the now empty mug back as she began to walk away. Everyone could only stare at her in shock and concern, with only the slightest bit of horror in their expressions.

"Uh... is... is Lady Noire feeling okay?" Pit asked.

"I'm not sure," Nepgear replied.

"That did feel pretty out of character for her," Zelda added.

"Noire!" Uni's voice said. The others turned to see Uni run up, gasping for breath as she finally doubled over and tried to catch her breath. "Please, sis, stop running off!"

"Lady Uni," Rosalina said, "is Lady Noire... okay?"

"That's just the thing!" Uni said with an exasperated tone. "I don't know what's going on with her! She was feeling bad earlier, with her stomach going nuts, so I brought her out to get something to eat, but that's when she just started wandering around everywhere! Almost like she's in a daze!"

"I'll admit," Pit said, "that is really odd for Lady Noire."

"Oh goodness!" Nepgear said. "Is... you don't think she's hacked or anything, do you?"

"I don't think so," Uni said. "But I don't know what else could be the problem with her!"

Red and Zelda's eyes traced over to where Noire was walking. She had an honestly contented expression on her face, even having a genuine smile on her face. Which, believe it or not, was a rarity whenever she was in public.

"She seems okay now," Red said.

"But it would be wise to keep an eye on her," Zelda said. "Just in case."

* * *

For the next day or so, Noire was still behaving... off. Like, really off. Or at least, for Noire that is.

"Oh my gosh!" Noire said, catching her breath after the match she and the CPUs were watching had wrapped up. "I... I am so happy that is over!"

"Really?" Neptune asked. "That match was actually pretty fast."

"But it felt like an eternity!" Noire said. "I mean, did you see how Byleth launched Sheik into the air!? Or how Shulk knocked both Luigi and Ness off the ledge!?"

"Noire," Vert said, "I can assure you that we've seen worse matches than that-"

"You three!" Noire said, rushing over to Compa and Dr. Mario as they were tending the injured Fighters. She began dotting over them in a panicking fit, only being calmed down by the rapid assurances that they were fine.

"Okay, Noire!" Blanc said. "As comforting as your concern is, we have to supervise the next match."

"Huh!? There's more!?" Noire said. "B-but, wasn't that enough!? That one fight felt like it took an eternity!"

The other CPUs all sent each other looks. "Noire," Neptune said. "That was the first match of the day."

Noire's eye twitched, as she leaned up against the wall, looking faint. "I think I'm gonna pass out," she said. "This is making me feel ill!" She clutched her stomach again, moaning in discomfort. "My stomach's acting up again! I need something else to eat before I do anything!"

The CPUs all looked to one another again. Noire was acting more out of sorts than normal.

"Noire," Vert said, "you're not... infected by a virus or anything, are you?"

"Uni asked me the same thing," Noire said, managing to stand upright again. "But I already got checked out by both Compa and Dr. Mario, they told me I have a clean bill of health. I'm not really acting that weird, am I?"

"Well..." the other three goddesses all said, not sure how to tell her.

At that moment, the participants for the next match arrived, consisting of the Ice Climbers, Mewtwo, Joker, and Cloud.

"Alright, Strife," Joker said, "ready to settle who's the best Playstation rep?"

"Ready when you are, Phantom Thief," Cloud replied.

"Oh hell naw!" Noire said, appearing in front of the two of them, pushing them back! "I am not having the two of you fighting!"

"What?" Joker said.

"Lady Noire," Cloud said, "is something wrong?"

"Of course something is wrong!" Noire said. "You're both my responsibility! So I can't have you both killing each other!"

"Okay, Noire!" Neptune said. "This is getting ridiculous! It's just a match! It's fine! They'll be fine!"

"Still," Noire said, "looking at them both attacking each other like this doesn't feel right!"

"Noire," Blanc said, "I don't know what went wrong with you lately, but this behavior is getting asinine!"

"Well fine!" Noire snapped. "In that case, I'm gonna need something to eat!"

She marched off, Neptune sighing heavily. "I'll get her," she said. "Get the match started without us!"

She followed Noire to Mintendo, where she found the CPU of Lastation already creating a terrifying concoction in a bowl.

"Uh..." Neptune said. "What're you making, Noire?"

"Oh," Noire replied, already looking happier, "we got a green curry ramen with raw egg, avocado, crumbled gouda, some puffin meat, and that's just the start."

Neptune stared at her, before meeting eyes with Min Min, who was standing off to the side. The ARMS Fighter pointed at Noire with a face that positively read, "What is going on!?" with Neptune meeting it with a shrug and her own face that read, "I have no idea!"

This type of behavior went on for barely a day before the other goddesses finally decided that they couldn't take it anymore, and searched for an explanation!

"Histy," Neptune said one day, "puhlease tell me that you know what the heck is going on with Noire?! I would gladly take our normal tsundere back over this dotting mother routine!"

"I have to agree with Neptune," Blanc said. "Noire's behavior is causing a bunch of the Fighters some unease. Not only for her out of character behavior, but it could also cause their performances in fights to become worse."

"Well," Histoire said, "I have looked into the situation a bit myself upon hearing the reports, and I have discovered something odd with Lastation's Shares. We'll have to wait for Kei to arrive to give us the full report, as she's been working hard on this ever since she discovered it."

"Now that I am thinking about it, where is Noire herself?"

"Well," Vert said, "we set her on a task to keep her preoccupied."

* * *

"Please! Stop moving!" Noire said, holding Pichu in her arms in terror, determined to keep the small Electric Pokemon from getting near anything that the CPU of Lastation deemed would be of harm to him. Naturally, the small Pokemon wanted to continue exploring, but she was not letting it go without having it electrocute her.

Nearby, Nepgear and Uni, along with Sonic and Mario watched her go. "Uh..." the Candidates both said, not knowing what they should in order to help.

"Mama mia," Mario said. "This is degrading."

"Well the sooner Nep and the other CPUs can figure out what the problem is with her," Sonic said, "the sooner we can have the old Noire back."

"Right Uni?" Sonic asked the Candidate in question, who merely nodded with a huff. Mario and Sonic both gave a breath of their own. They knew that Uni was the one most affected by Noire's offputting behavior at the moment and just wanted to know what was going on with her sister.

"A-Lady Uni," Mario said, "let-a me assure you we will-a do everything within-a our power to help-a bring Lady Noire-a back to normal." Sonic gave a nod of agreeance behind him.

Uni smiled. "Thanks you both," she said.

"Uni!" Pit's voice called out, prompting Uni to turn and see both the captain of Palutena's army, alongside Dark Pit approaching from nearby.

"If you'd both excuse me," Uni said, "I have my own working theory I want to explore. Please keep an eye on my sister."

"Roger that," Sonic said with a mock salute.

Uni approached the two angels, with Nepgear walking up alongside out of curiosity.

"What's the problem, Uni?" Pit asked.

"Why'd you bring this guy?" Uni asked, referring to Dark Pit.

"Nice to see you too," Dark Pit said sarcastically.

"W-well Pittoo was just scared by Lady Plutia, so he decided to follow me after I got your call," Pit replied.

"I was not scared of that psycho!" Dark Pit replied. "I just don't want to be anywhere near without being forced to wipe her out like I did to Pandora!"

"Okay, whatever," Uni said. "Just behave yourself."

"So what's the situation?" Pit asked. "Is it about Lady Noire?"

"Yeah," Uni replied. "I think I may finally have an idea about what's going on with her."

"What's that?" Pit asked.

"After combing through some records," Uni replied, "I've come to the conclusion that my sister might be possessed by the Chaos Kin."

Pit raised an eyebrow as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, as Dark Pit merely looked bemused. Nepgear also looked at Uni with curiosity, this being the first she was hearing of this theory.

"Are you sure Uni?" Nepgear asked.

"I'm fairly certain," Uni replied. "What else could it be?"

"Don't be stupid," Dark Pit said. "If it truly was the Chaos Kin, it would have Noire try and take over Gamindustri and everyone that got in her way. Not... whatever it is she's doing now."

"Pittoo's got a point," Pit replied. "That's basically what happened to Lady Palutena when it took control of her. This is... not that. In fact, if anything, Lady Noire's acting nicer than usual, which is the opposite effect. It's gotta be something else."

"Okay smarties!" Uni huffed, crossing her arms, "then what do you think it is?"

"Maybe she's pregnant?"

The others all looked at where that voice had come from to find Zelda and Rosalina standing nearby.

"Oh, Zelda and Rosalina!" Nepgear said. "What're you doing here?"

"Well," Rosalina replied, "after our first encounter with Lady Noire's new personality we began doing our own research and found that her behavior is akin to that of a woman in pregnancy."

"How!?" Uni said, sounding rather offended by the theory. "How would that even happen!?"

"Well," Zelda said, "there is a particular Phantom Thief that's exhibited attraction to her."

* * *

Elsewhere in Gamindustri, Joker released a sneeze.

* * *

"Okay, first, ew!" Uni said. "Secondly, I have the feeling that Noire would have told me about this. Thirdly, ew! Fourthly, I also have the feeling Noire would figure out if she was pregnant. Fifth - EWW!"

From nearby, Nepgear, Pit, and Dark Pit merely watched with the knowledge that this would take a while.

* * *

"Thank you for your patience CPUs," Kei said, entering the Planeptune Basilicom.

"No problem," Neptune said. "Do you have any idea why Noire is acting so... weird~ lately?"

"I have a theory," Kei said.

"Well don't keep us in suspense," Vert said, "what is it?"

"I've noticed a particular swell in Lastation's Shares," Kei replied. "The Shares have begun to accelerate at a dangerous pace. Almost as if a New CPU Candidate were about to be created."

"Well that's all fine and good," Neptune said, "but how is that affecting Noire herself?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Kei replied. "What's worse is the fact that I have no idea where this influx of Shares could even be coming from. There's been no changes in the Lastation populace's faith in recent days, so there's nothing to account for why the country's Shares have been growing at such an abrupt and honestly unstable rate."

"Unstable?" Histoire asked. "Kei... please don't tell me that means something... untoward will happen to Noire because of this?"

"I shouldn't think so," Kei said. "But if the Shares change at such a pace again it very well might-" Her face dropped as she suddenly saw something on her file. "Oh no."

"What?" Neptune asked. "What do you mean 'oh no'? Oh no is a bad thing!"

"It would appear," Kei replied, "that there has indeed been another abrupt shift."

"But... if what you said is true," Vert said, "than what does that mean for-?"

Everything came to a grinding halt as a mighty scream shook the entire Basilicom to its foundations. A very, very familiar scream. "NOIRE!" everyone yelled.

* * *

In the middle of Lastation's streets, Noire had fallen to her knees clutching her stomach in absolute pain! "What... in the name... of Sony... is happening?!" she cried out. Everyone else standing from nearby began to panic among themselves as they caught Noire's collapse!

"Sis!" Uni said. "H-hang on! I-I'll go get help!"

"What is going on with her!?" Nepgear said.

"Do I look like I know!?" Uni said.

"Hang on!" the voice of Purple Heart yelled, prompting the Candidates to look into the sky and see the CPUs in HDD form with Kei and Histoire in their arms descending alongside them!

"Noire, can you stand?" Green Heart asked.

"No! I-I can't!" Noire said, unable to stand on what were essentially legs made of jello!

"Sonic!" Purple Heart said. "Get Compa and Dr. Mario! We're gonna need them!"

"Kei," Histoire said, "what's going on with her Shares?"

"They're still swelling," Kei said. "I've never even heard of something like this happening before. I would honestly be intrigued if it was not having such an adverse effect on her."

Suddenly, Noire's face turned green as her body began to glow with a powerful aura! Within a moment she transformed into both Black Heart, and Next Black, and she kept on glowing! "I-I feel like I'm gonna explode!" she said.

Before anyone could do anything, a glowing mass emerged from her stomach, which grew out from her, before it slammed into the ground creating a wall of dust and smoke! "Noire!" everyone yelled.

When the smoke cleared, Noire was laying flat on her back, staring up at the clouds, now back in her natural form. "It's... it's over... it's finally over..." she said. "Oh halleluah! Praise Uno, it's finally over!"

She sat up, giggling hysterically, before her eyes settled on something. "What...?" she said. "What...?"

From the dust, a small figure was seen sitting right in front of her. She appeared quite young, about no older than Rom and Ram, with long white hair, piercing blue eyes, wearing what looked akin to a one-piece, black swimsuit, and a white coat with blue interior. The two could merely stare at each other, the neighboring CPUs, Fighters, and Candidates looking with equal amounts of shock and confusion. Then to top it off, the girl spoke.

"Ma...ma...?"

Finally, the shock caught up with her and Noire let loose another scream! "Wha-wha-wha-what is this!? How!? Who!? What in the name of dear, sweet, merciful, Sony in Celestia is going on?!"

"Well," Neptune laughed nervously, having transformed back to normal, "at least Noire seems to be back to her old self."

"So Noire," Dark Pit said, "who's the lucky father?"

"Don't even joke like that!" Noire yelled. "I have no idea what is even going on here! I'm freaking out!"

"Hey!" a smaller voice said. Everyone looked down at the child, who had a really annoyed look on her face. "As I was saying, may you puh-lease tell me what is happening?"

Noire began to splutter awkwardly, the most gobsmacked expression on her face. "Why should I tell you anything!?" she said. "You should be the one who tells me what is happening since you just came out of my body!"

"I never asked for that!" the girl said.

"Well that makes two of us!" Noire said.

"Yeesh, Noire," Neptune said. "You shouldn't yell at your kid like that."

"She's not my kid!" "I'm not her kid!"

"Okay," Vert said, "let's take it a step back. What's your name?" she asked the child.

"Prospero," the girl replied.

"Alright, Prospero," Blanc said. "Do you know where you came from?"

"Uh, duh!" Prospero said. "Lastation! I'm the CPU of it of course!"

Noire balked now harder than ever before! "Wha-hu-No! You! Are! Not!" she yelled.

"Actually," Histoire said, looking at Kei's tablet. "She is. Or at least, from another dimension."

"Say what now?" Neptune said, as the whole crowd looked at the Oracles in confusion.

"As it happens," Kei replied, "we were able to isolate the issues going on with Lastation's Shares and its subsequent effect on Lady Noire upon... Prospero's manifestation. Turns out that she comes from a relatively new Gamindustri, being fairly young herself. With the Tournament and its linkage to other dimensions happening at this time, you can look at it as our Lastation swallowing this new Lastation's Shares, being the eldest dimension and obviously the one with the superior amount of Shares. Akin to a drop falling into a glass of water. Prospero here just got sucked up for the ride. And since Lady Noire is our resident Lastation CPU, she became the vessel for her arrival, in a manner of speaking."

"So..." Neptune said. "What now?"

"Well," Histoire said, "we'll work to return the Shares to their rightful dimension. As for Prospero herself, she's free to go home."

"Fine by me!" Prospero said. "The sooner I go home, the better for my health!"

"The feeling's mutual you freeloading brat!" Noire snapped.

"Hey, I'm not the one who stole Shares that don't belong to you!" Prospero said.

"Like I had a say in that!" Noire said. "And you're still the one who shoved your way out of my body!"

"I didn't have a say in that either!" Prospero yelled.

"Enough!" everyone else yelled.

Finally, Prospero left from the jump gate back to her own dimension as Histoire and Kei went back to coordinate a way to return her Shares back where they should be. Noire watched her go with the most royally pissed off face known to anyone.

"Well," Mario said, "at least-a it's over now."

"R-right," Zelda said. "And we've got Noire back to normal."

"Fine by me," Noire said. "I'm happy that kid is out of my hair now and forever."

"I think you might be exaggerating a bit Lady Noire," Rosalina said. "I mean, it was a situation neither of you had control over. If given the opportunity to meet again, I'm sure you might have become friends in a manner similar to Lady Neptune befriending Lady Uzume and Lady Plutia."

Noire scowled as she stared at the teleport pad where Prospero vanished. "Maybe," Noire said. "Given time we might be able to forget what happened." She stopped as she looks at Uni.

"But no matter what," she said, "there's only one younger member of Lastation for me look after."

She patted Uni's head, causing her younger sister to gain a happy smile on her face. "In the meantime," Noire said, "I think I need some R&R like Blanc did. You'll see me in the hot springs."

The two of them walked off, as the others began to disperse to their own ways. With the exception of Pit that looked inspired. "Hot spring?" he said.

Back with the Lastation sisters, they were both relaxing in said hot spring, taking a moment's ease. Noire was already starting to look more relaxed with a content smile on her face. This, naturally, made Uni happy in turn.

"I'm glad to see you're happier Noire," she said. "You really had me worried for a while there. I even went to that angel boy for advice."

"Sorry to worry you, Uni," Noire replied. "But hopefully nothing like that will happen again. But did you seriously ask Pit for advice?"

"Yeah!" Uni said. "I was convinced you got possessed by the Chaos Kin or something!"

"Honestly," Noire said, "I think I would've preferred that over what really happened. Still, you seem to hang out with that Pit guy a lot."

"What makes you say that?" Uni said. "It's only because he spends practically all his free time with Nepgear. It's annoying! I mean, I should have more friends, but Nepgear is the only one I ha-uh, need right now so him hogging her's... annoying."

Noire felt like she got stabbed in the chest at the prospects of her little sister having just as much difficulty with having friends as her! Their conversation was cut off as there was a knock on the door. The door opened, Nepgear poking her head in, her long purple hair tied in a bun.

"Uh... s-sorry to interrupt," she said, "I know you wanted some 'R&R' Noire, but would it be okay if some more people joined you?"

"That would depend on the people," Noire said, raising an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Well I'm merely being polite and checking first," Nepgear said, "because at this moment somebody a lot less considerate is making his way over-"

At that moment, a white blur shot through as Pit's voice could be heard shouting "Hot spring!" There was a splash of water that struck Noire and Uni in the face, as the both of them looked particularly annoyed now.

"How long did we have before they showed up?" Noire asked.

"Uh... about a minute and a half," Uni replied, "give or take."

"Yeah," Noire said. "That seems about right for the amount of time I'm permitted for relaxation before something has to rear its ugly head."

"Come on in Nepgear!" Pit cheered. "The spring is great!"

"U-uh! Okay!" Nepgear replied.

Noire hung her head again, Uni comfortingly rubbing her back.

* * *

_**A/N: And we're back in it guys! In case you couldn't tell, this was inspired by the PS5 reveal that happened not too long ago. The name I used for the new CPU, "Prospero", was the project title for the PS5, so that speaks for itself.**_

_**Now before people point out how the PS4, WiiU, and XBox One were all the base for the Next Forms in MegaDimension, so I should've just gone with a new form, A.) Uzume and Plutia are both based on different Sega consoles, meaning other CPUs like this should be a thing, and B.) this was the first idea that popped into my head and I found it funny. Also, by this point, can we have one of the upcoming Neptunia games give some official portrayal for the not only the PS5, but the Switch, and XBox One X/S?**_

_**The idea of Noire "giving birth" to a new CPU was just funny to me and I thought would lead to funny shenanigans mostly revolving around the others just being confused about what in the dimensions is happening with her. And I have no doubt similar ideas has been done before in Neptunia fanfics.**_

_**In case some of you are wondering my thoughts on the PS5 reveal itself, a lot of the upcoming games look cool such as Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the new Ratchet and Clank looks great, and the biggest highlight for m**__**e**__** b**__**eing R**__**esid**__**ent Evil: Village. As for the design of the PS5 itself, I think it's fine. I don't really get why som**__**e people hat**__**e it. (On a related note, I was able to rely on my fellow cultured individuals to h**__**elp m**__**e in thinking up Prosp**__**ero's design by making art of the PS5 as an anim**__**e girl.)**_

_**R**__**eview Time!**_

_**To Neptunia56: Glad you liked th**__**e chapt**__**er, and writing th**__**e construction of the Mintendo Noodle House was fun and put a smile on my face. I love doing stuff like that. In regards to doing a Rom and Ram focused chapter holds merit and would b**__**e fun and cute.**_

_**To Jacob9594: I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! Hope I can continue to entertain you!**_

_**To Zindakku Hirokai: Nothing against Waluigi fans, but the mere speculation of Spring Man becoming the next Fighter during initial reveal the next Fighter would be from ARMS really made them all look more obnoxious than ever, and I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't something cathartic in the truth of the situation being Min Min instead, proving them wrong... again. As for your speculations, my thoughts on them - Rex and Pyra/Mythra: I can see that, and they've been theorized for some time even in spite of Rex's Mii costume, so I wouldn't be surprised. A unique gimmick would be having Rex swap between Pyra or Mythra in a manner similar to Pokemon Trainer using Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. - Urshifu: Makes sense. I had a similar feeling after Isle of Armor was announced. And rather than pick a single style, why not have him switch between the two as his "DLC gimmick"? - Akira: Again, makes sense. And their powers are pretty interesting (on top of being another Fighter with male and female variants) but I will say I think they're the least likely given that I feel a lot of the hype for Astral Chain has died down, but that might just be me. - Bandai Namco rep: I agree. With Sega, Capcom, and even Playstation having multiple reps, Bandai Namco seriously needs another. Who in particular, I have no clue, but I agree there needs to be another for Pac-Man to have a friend. - Agumon: I will admit, I feel the planet would explode if Agumon was added. In part because Digimon is one of those franchises like Fate that is more recognized as an anime now, and not purely a video game franchise. But I wouldn't discount the possibility, what with all the buzz for Digimon as of late. - A swordsman not from FE, there are a lot that could be in there, a few that come to my head being Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes (one of my personal votes), Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Dante from Devil May Cry, even Artoria/Saber from Fate. (Neptune counts if they go with her traditional fighting styl**__**e and not the gunplay from Virtual Stars). Heck, playing off that villain id**__**ea, Sephiroth from FFVII counts too (who's another guy I vote for). And with my thoughts on Haruka Amami, she's a suggestion I wouldn't mind as an outfield suggestion, I can't imagine how such an adorable character could fight! Overall, some solid an open minded suggestions! Way to go!**_

_**And for Nightmare from Soul Calibur, he'd certainly make for an interesting inclusion! Looking so vicious when compared to a lot of Smash's roster. Plus, Soul Calibur is a series that (as far as I know at least, don't hold me to this) is similar to ARMS in the fact that there's no main/mascot character, so him being a representative from there makes sense. I can get behind it.**_

_**And finally, to Bob: I do apologize that you are unhappy with my portrayal of the Inklings. This is a fault of me not being too familiar with Splatoon and characterizing them based on what I've seen other people do with them. Again, I do apologize, as naturally I don't want this story to offend or make anybody unhappy. If it is such a big deal, I can scrub them out entirely. Again, I don't want to upset anyone, and it's clear that I've gotten them wrong.**_

_**That being said, thanks for reading! Let me know any other suggestions you have, stay safe, don't hog all the toilet paper, and have a wonderful evening!**_


	23. Stage 21: Neptune's Escape

**Stage 21: Start!**

It was a beautiful day in Gamindustri. The Makers were moving about doing their work, the NPCs were casually interacting, and battles between the Fighters were still ongoing. There were thankfully no incidents like Segata Sanshiro's unannounced arrival, Crazy Hand summoning an Eggplant Wizard, or Waluigi's temper tantrum, so things were finally able to go like clockwork.

With this established peace in mind, Neptune was eager to get to some gameplay! She hadn't been able to play as many games as she normally would with the busy environment, doing her part to help maintain the Smash Tournament, leaving a lot of games unattended on the shelves. But thankfully, with this lull of peace, she might finally get her chance!

"My delightful Zero Dimension for Neptune Warriors," Neptune said happily, "you're finally mine! Gonna fire up my Nep Flip and get it going!" She reached for her console, ready to get the game in order, only for Nepgear to rush over!"

"Neptune!" she said. "We got a situation! The others are asking for your help to fix the systems in the Mario Maker Stage!"

Neptune balked! "B-but-!" she said. "Can't somebody else help with that? Do they really need me?"

"They insist that you come over!" Nepgear said.

Neptune whined dramatically as she got up and moved over to help.

The situation took a few hours, but thankfully it was done before long and Neptune was allowed to move back to her Basilicom! "Finally over!" she said. "Now I can get to my game!" Or so she thought.

Just as she was about to jump up and transform, she felt the hood of her jacket pulled on! She turned to see Noire standing right behind her with a stack of paper in her hand. "Not so fast, you," she said. "You got more work to do!"'

"Huh!?" Neptune said. "Come on Noire! I want to go play my game!"

"No way," Noire said. "We all have to work on documents just as much as we have to do heavy lifting! And just to make sure you actually do it, you're gonna do it here so I can keep an eye on you! Hop to it!"

Neptune whined again as she slumped over, marching over to finish the work. That alone took a few hours as well, but finally it was done, and Neptune leapt up with a newfound enthusiasm once more! "Finally! Done with that too!" she said. "Now I can finally go and-gah!"

"Nope," Blanc said, dropping her hammer in front of Neptune, bringing her to a grounding halt before she could run more than two feet! "You and I are needed to oversee try-outs for new Fighters."

"Eh!?" Neptune said. "I thought we didn't get any say in what new Fighters are brought over! Didn't Mr. Sakurai say that the next few Fighters were all his choices!?"

"We're gonna input on how they can be translated to a Fighter," Blanc said. "Now move it."

Neptune whined more dramatically than ever as she was dragged by Blanc by the hood of her skirt over to the tryouts.

For the next several weeks, this was how it was for Neptune. Every time she thought she'd get to not only play a game, but just do something she wanted to in general, some other task was brought to her by Noire, Blanc, Vert, Nepgear, Uni, or _somebody _that got her totally distracted! It was an agonizing process, as she wanted nothing more than a chance to enjoy herself, but was stopped at every single conceivable turn as the workload she had on her was just too much!

Things eventually came to a head, as Sonic and Mario were stopping by the Planeptower to pick her up for her first task that day.

"Why do you think they sent us to grab her instead of coming here themselves?" Sonic asked, referring to the other CPUs.

"Because-a they're a bit-a too preoccupied," Mario replied.

The elevator came to a halt, the two entering Neptune's home to see Nepgear scampering around with a nervous expression on her face. "Good morning Little Gear," Sonic greeted warmly.

"Oh! H-hello Sonic," Nepgear greeted. "Hello Mario."

"Is there-a problem, Nepgear?" Mario asked.

"Oh," Nepgear replied. "It's only Neptune."

"Nep giving you a headache?" Sonic asked.

"W-well," Nepgear said. "Somewhat. It's more like she's a bit... burnt out."

She gestured for Neptune's room, where the Goddess of Planeptune was dragging herself along the floor with her face glued downward. "I can't take it..." she said. "It's too much..."

"Uh... Neptune?" Sonic said. "Are you okay?"

"Please..." Neptune said, still pulling herself forward, slowly but surely. "Make it stop... Give me games... give me comics... give me adventures... give me something other than this...!"

"I was wondering when it would finally grow to be too much for her," Sonic observed.

"Come on-a Lady Neptune!" Mario said. "It's-a not-a so bad! The Tournament is growing great! You CPUs have been-a great help for everything!"

"That's terrific," Neptune said. "But what about me!? What about my feelings!?"

"Sorry Neptune," Sonic said, "but this is how it is as a goddess. You gotta be responsible."

"Screw responsibility!" Neptune said. "I'm exhausted! I can't have any time to play my games or enjoy myself for more than a few hours because of all this work I have to do now!"

"Sorry again-a Lady Neptune," Mario said. "But we're trying to-a do our best to help-a you, but most of things behind the organization-a are limited just to you goddesses."

"That doesn't help me at all!" Neptune cried.

Sonic took a breath. It was always tiring whenever Neptune got like this. But that's when he remembered something.

"Say Neptune~" he said. "Isn't this year a special time?"

"What you talkin' bout' hedgehog?" Neptune asked, looking at him.

"Sonic's right Neptune!" Nepgear said. "Did you forget this year's our anniversary?"

Neptune looked confused for a moment, before she jumped up excitedly! "Holy crap! You're right!" she said.

"Lady Neptune," Mario said, "did-a you really miss the date? It was-a few days ago!"

"In case you missed it fat man," Neptune said, "I've been a bit _**Busy**_!" She jumped to her feet, powered by newfound energy!

"On top of running Planeptune and handling the Super Smash Bros. Tournament - which in itself requires a lot of stuff from Stage management, monitoring Fighters and NPCs, covering upcoming Fighters, Item collection, and so much other stuff behind the scenes - I have also been working on our next game, Neptunia Virtual Stars, and we have our first PS5 game announced as well with its own slew of info! I've! Been! Busy!"

"That's the thing, Neptune!" Sonic said. "You should get a real chance to celebrate! Just think, the moment you have an open slot, you can get a chance to really celebrate! Mario and I will help give you a super good night!"

Sonic's words resonated with Neptune. It was her 10th Anniversary this year, something she nearly forgot about with so much going on! Sonic was right, she did deserve a chance to celebrate! Which would be right freaking now!

"You're right!" she said. "I'm gonna celebrate! And I'm going for it!"

She rushed for the door before Sonic, Nepgear, or Mario could stop her!

"Wait! Neptune! Wher're you going!?" Nepgear said.

"I'm going to the one place I can think of where I can get my shot at celebrating!" Neptune said. "No work! New places! A shot at adventure!"

She rushed her way out of the Planeptower as fast as she could go! Mario looked to Sonic with a rather annoyed expression. "Nice-a work Sonic," he said.

Sonic let out an exasperated breath.

* * *

Meanwhile, a small crowd had gathered around a large monitor positioned around the borders between the four countries, with Snake, Min Min, Mega Man, IF, Shulk, Joker, and Samus, all watching it with intrigue.

"So this is a gate to another dimension?" Snake asked.

"Correct," IF said. "This gate leads to the setting of the upcoming Neptunia game. In layman's terms, it's a dimensional parallel to the internet."

"That sounds very intriguing," Mega Man said.

"So... why are you showing us this?" Joker added.

"Because," IF said, "nobody is supposed to touch it. You have to keep everyone away as best as you can."

"Understood Ms. IF," Shulk said.

"Given my experience," Samus said, "I'll know better than to ask questions and just do my part to keep everyone away."

"Uh, guys," Min Min said, "we have someone coming."

Everyone turned and saw Neptune running at them at full peg!

"Lady Neptune?" Shulk asked.

"What is she doing?" Joker added.

"She's headed right for us, obviously!" Snake said, pushing them both aside!

Neptune ran over as fast as she could go, and leapt straight at the monitor! "All your adventure are belong to me!" she said, vanishing in a blur!

"Nep! What the hell!?" IF said, staring at the blank screen in horror!

"She just jumped straight into it!" Mega Man said.

"Why!?" Samus added.

"Neptune!" Nepgear's voice said, descending in front of them as Purple Sister! "Oh no," she said. "She's already gone!"

Sonic zipped over, Mario hovering right behind with a Cape Feather. "Man I thought I was fast!" Sonic said, looking at the screen in frustration.

Purple Sister felt something odd and looked over to see Mega Man staring at her with a mortified expression on his face. "Hey," Purple Sister greeted. Mega Man replied by screaming at the top of his voice and running away!

"Do I want to know?" Snake asked.

"No you don't," Sonic replied. "Iffy, where does that monitor go?"

"The setting of the new Neptunia game," IF said. "Virtualand."

"Virtualand?" Sonic echoed.

"I've-a never heard of that-a place before," Mario said. "But then again-a, you did-a mention this is for a new-a game."

"Why would Lady Neptune charge right into there like a blue shell?" Min Min asked.

Mario, Sonic, and Purple Sister all shared a look. "She needed a break," they replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Virtualand, the goddess of the dimension, Fair, felt the intriguing sensation of Neptune's arrival, prompting her to manifest and see the fellow goddess's arrival herself. Nearby, Hololive Virtual YouTuber, Minato Aqua, noticed her!

"O-oh, Lady Fair," she said. "Uh... pray tell, why're you here?"

"Oh, just waiting for a friend," Fair replied, eyes focused intently on the sky.

Aqua was confused, tracing her gaze upward, just in time to see a purple blur collide straight with her, kicking up a comical cloud of dust! Neptune was found sitting on top of Aqua, looking around to ensure she was where she intended to be! Her face brightened up significantly as she saw Fair looking at her!

"Hello Neptune," she greeted calmly. "What brings you here so early? You're not scheduled to rehearse today."

"Well," Neptune said, hopping to her feet. "I just remembered this year's my anniversary, and I decided to take the day off!"

"Are you allowed to do that?" Fair asked.

"I say I am," Neptune said smugly.

Fair giggled. "Well, do be careful," she said. "I'll be keeping an eye on you. Have a good day."

Neptune waved at her, before hearing a disgruntled noise from the ground and turned to see Aqua recovering from getting crushed by Neptune. "Oh hey," Neptune greeted. "Sorry about that."

"It's... fine," Aqua said. "But a little warning would've been appreciated, Lady Neptune."

Neptune giggled awkwardly. "W-would it help if I said I was in a hurry?" she said.

"Is everything okay, Aqua?" a new voice asked. "We heard a loud noise."

Neptune looked over to see Otodama Tamako and Ishikari Akari approaching from nearby. Like Aqua, they were Virtual YouTubers as well that worked together on the same channel.

"Hey guys~" Neptune greeted.

"Lady Neptune?" Tamako asked. "What're you doing here?"

"Apparently," Aqua replied, "she's taking a 'day off' from her work in Gamindustri."

"Can she do that?" Tamako asked.

"Apparently," Aqua said again with a shrug.

"Atut-tut," Neptune said. "Come on guys, I need some rest! So what're we gonna do around here for fun?"

"I got some suggestions," Akari said, throwing an arm around Neptune's shoulder, as the two began walking down the street.

"Is this how the goddesses of Gamindustri feel when they have to put up with her?" Tamako asked, Aqua merely giving a grim nod, as the two began to catch up with the others.

* * *

Meanwhile, Shulk and Joker had also gone through the monitor to Virtualand and were doing their part to try and find Neptune.

"Why do you think Lady Nepgear asked for us to help find Lady Neptune?" Shulk replied.

"Because," Joker said, "once Blanc or Noire get wind of it, they're probably going to put Neptune through neverending torture for bailing."

"Fair point," Shulk replied.

The two walked through the futuristic cities trying their hardest to find the purple colored CPU. As they did, Shulk couldn't help but notice that the place looked not unlike that which he might find in Gamindustri. "How do you suppose we can find Lady Neptune?" he asked.

"Knowing her," Joker replied, "it won't be that difficult."

Shulk knew that the Phantom Thief had a point, but the wielder of the Monado still felt that there was a faster approach than waiting for her to get into trouble. He noticed a girl with blue hair wearing a big baggy sweater with a... dog's tail...?

"Uh, excuse me?" he said, catching their attention. "I was wondering if you might be able to help us? We're looking for Lady Neptune, I don't suppose you know her?"

"Oh Nep?" the girl replied. "Yeah! I do! In fact, she just passed by."

"You know where she went?" Joker asked.

"She's with Aqua, Tamako, and Akari," the girl replied. "I can take you to them if you want."

"Great! Thank you miss!" Shulk said.

"Actually, I'm a boy," they replied. "My name's Inuyama Tamaki."

"Oh, oka-" Shulk said, before blanking out. Even Joker looked surprised, finding himself looking them up and down. "Otokonoko?" he said.

"Otokonoko," Tamaki said, looking quite entertained by Shulk's reaction.

Joker let out a breath as he began following Tamaki, forced to drag the unconscious Hom behind him.

* * *

"Where do you think Snake went?" Min Min asked.

"Can't say," Samus replied. "He tends to do stuff like this. Which in such a situation is not welcomed. We don't know almost anything about this Virtualand place. I'm starting to think that IF's idea of splitting up wasn't such a wise decision."

"Don't you typically go running into planets without any idea about what possibly waits for you in there?" Min Min said.

"Well, yes," Samus replied honestly, "but typically it's done without having to ensure a team of allies does not die in the process. Last time that happened, Dark Samus controlled Gandrayda, Rundas, and Ghor and I had to kill them all."

"I keep forgetting your series can be very dark," Min Min said fretfully.

"Excuse me?" a nearby voice said. Min Min turned to see a girl with dog-ears atop her head and a dog's tail looking at her curiously. "Do you two need help with something?"

_Kawaii_... Min Min said, still awestruck by the girl's appearance.

"Yes," Samus replied. "Are you familiar with the CPU of Planeptune?"

"Oh, Lady Neptune?" the girl said. "Yes! Are you looking for her?"

"Yes we are," Samus replied. "Do you know where she is?"

"Not right now," the girl said. "But I know a friend that might! Hey, Roboco!"

A smaller girl with black hair and a pair of glasses walked over.

"These two are looking for Lady Neptune," the dog-eared girl said. "You think you can find her?"

"Affirmative," Roboco replied. She gestured for the others to follow her.

"So that means you two are from Gamindustri, right?" the dog eared girl said. "That's great to hear. My name is Inugami Korone! It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Samus Aran," Samus replied.

"I'm Min Min," the ARMS rep said. From there, they followed Roboco to hopefully find Neptune. Little did they know about a cardboard box that was following close behind them.

"Lady Noire," it said, "I have a lead."

* * *

"Sonic," IF said, "from here on out I'm going to make sure that you, Uzume, and Plutia are all going to keep an eye on Nep from here on out to ensure she doesn't pull a stunt like this again."

"Hey! Why is she my responsibility!?" he said.

"You do say she's-a your goddess," Mario replied.

"I don't appreciate that," Sonic said.

"Enough!" IF said. "Look, let's just focus on finding Nep so we can go home."

"Hey! Pipe down!" a whiney voice said. The trio looked up to see a pudgy, peanut-headed... creature staring down at them. "Don't you know people have very important things they're doing?"

"Hey!" Sonic said. "We're doing important things too! Like getting a goddess back to her home country?"

"Oh good for you!" the Peanut said sarcastically. "You live with a goddess who can't even keep her nose out of other people's homes or business!"

"Hey, that's-a not-a very nice," Mario said. "We're-a sorry for bothering you, but maybe you can-a help us?"

"Not as far as I can throw you!" the peanut said.

"Hey!" Sonic snapped. "Don't talk to my friend like that!"

"I can speak however I want, you big, blue hamster!" the peanut said.

"Hamster?!" Sonic shouted. "Why I oughta bury you!"

"Sonic! That's enough!" IF said, picking the Blue Blur up in her arms before he could murder somebody! "Let's just go! We'll see if we can find help elsewhere."

"Yeah, let's see you come back without your girlfriend!" the peanut got out, just before a bullet was imbeded in the side of his window! He jumped and ducked inside his house, as IF was left twitching in unbridled rage with her gun smoking in her hand.

Mario let out a breath. These kinds of things never happened in the Mushroom Kingdom. As he paused for a moment, he heard the sound of music from nearby.

"Hey!" he said. "Look-a over there!"

IF and Sonic got over their previous anger as they traced Mario's look over to a nearby stage, where two girls were seen dancing and singing! One of them had pink hair tied up in two buns and was wearing a Chinese style dress. The other had blonde hair, while wearing a blue, almost military themed outfit.

"They sound great," Sonic said, taken by their singing.

"Lady Blanc did-a say that music would-a be big in the new game," Mario said.

The girls sang for another minute or so before finishing up. They heard clapping and turned to see the three applauding them! "Wow!" IF said. "That was great!"

"Thanks!" the girl with pink hair said. "You caught us practicing! Was it that good?"

"Of course!" Mario said.

"Well, thank you very much!" the blonde said. "You don't look familiar to me, are you new?"

"Sorta," Sonic replied. "My name is Sonic! This is IF, and that's Mario. We're from Gamindustri. Or, rather, she's from Gamindustri and Mario and I are just visiting. But anyway, have you ever heard of it?"

"Oh sure!" the pink haired girl replied. "Nobody can stop talking about it!"

"Excellent!" Mario said. "So you must-a know about Lady Neptune! The CPU of Planeptune! We're looking for her. Have you seen her?"

"Sure thing!" the blonde girl said. "We can take you to her if you want."

"That'd be great," IF said.

"Yes!" the pink haired girl said, jumping down from the stage! "Then let's go! By the way, I'm Tanaka Hime! And this is Suzuki Hina!"

"Charmed," Sonic said, he, Mario, and IF following them to where they said Neptune would be.

"So tell me," IF said, "you guys are VTubers, right?"

"Yup!" Hime enthusiastically replied. "We do a lot of different videos like games, challenges, and music!"

"Hearing you back-a there," Mario said, "your singing is quite good!"

"Thanks!" Hime said.

"You say you play games," Sonic said, "so do you play any of the trendy horror games?"

"Uh, no," Hina said. "Because Hime is a bi-"

"I cannot stand horror games!" Hime declared.

"But you've been trying to get better!" Hina said.

"So," Sonic said, "how long do you think it will be before you could play Bend-"

"No Sonic!" Mario said. "Do not-a say his name! You don't-a know what storm you will cause' on-a the internet!"

"Oh, fair point," Sonic said.

Hime and Hina looked at IF, but even she couldn't quite say what they were talking about. Instead, the group opted to continue on their way.

* * *

Neptune was enjoying her time. She was having the time she needed. She was telling stories to Tamako, Akari, and Aqua and reveling in their adoration. While some of the aspects were dramatized at first, she'd tell the truth thereafter, and everyone was still thoroughly entertained!

"Gosh Lady Neptune!" Aqua said. "It sounds like you have quite the times in Gamindustri."

"Not to mention," Tamako said, "your friends are also quite the characters."

"Oh you haven't heard anything yet!" Neptune said. "Wanna hear what happened to Noire with three Wiimotes, a glitched video game, and some purified sap?"

"Yes!" Akari said enthusiastically!

Unfortunately, the story would go untold, for that moment pretty much everyone that was looking for her came into the cafe they were talking in! "There you are!" a plethora of voices said.

"Oh, hey guys," Neptune said. "How's it going?"

"How's it going?" Samus repeated. "What do you mean? We've been in a panic!"

"Lady Neptune," Shulk said, "you can't just go and run off like that!"

"Why not?" Neptune asked.

"Because," Min Min said, "the other CPUs aren't going to be happy to hear that you just up and ran off like you did!"

"Sonic thought it'd be a good idea!" Neptune said.

"Oh, throw me under the bus why don't you!?" Sonic said, noting that the Fighters were looking at him with angry glares.

"That's not-a what-a Sonic meant, Lady Neptune!" Mario said. "He said-a you could celebrate _after _you were done with your work!"

"And with all the work I have, I don't have a chance! That's my point!" Neptune said angrily.

As the argument continued, the VTubers on the side could merely watch the situation unfold with nervous expressions on their faces.

"Did you know about this?" Korone asked Akari, Tamako, and Aqua.

"Not really," Aqua said. "Lady Neptune just said she was taking a brake."

"It would appear she took an unauthorized excursion," Roboco said.

"You could say that again," Tamaki said.

"Look Neptune," Joker said, "no matter what you gotta get back to Gamindustri before-!"

Suddenly, a pillar of light shot down from the ceiling, as Noire, Blanc, and Vert were all standing there with awfully miffed expressions on their faces. Neptune sweatdropped, backing away slowly, only to bump into the crowd whose feet were planted firmly in the ground at the sight of the goddesses! A box that had been entirely unnoticed shifted over to the CPUs, Snake's head popping out.

"Thanks for the help, Snake," Noire said.

"Absolutely, Lady Noire," Snake replied.

"Snake! How could you!" Neptune said.

The Virtual YouTubers were all astonished by the sight of the multiple CPUs and were unsure of what to do.

"Uh..." Aqua said. "Should we... b-bow?"

"I dunno," Tamaki said.

"I feel very intimidated," Hime added.

"Neptune," Blanc said angrily, "you honestly thought that you could just up and run on us without anyone noticing?"

"Especially when you practically kamikaze the portal out?" Noire added. "Just drop your laziness for once and actually come back and do some work!"

"This isn't fair!" Neptune said. "I've been working hard for over a month! I haven't had practically any time to play games or do anything that I want!"

"Neptune, you're being a child!" Noire said. "You're a goddess, and our responsibility at the moment is to manage the Super Smash Bros. Tournament! You don't get to have the luxury of doing whatever you want all the time."

"She is right, Neptune," Vert said. "You're not the only one who's wanted to do the things you enjoy doing. Why, I have barely put in any time to my MMOs since this Tournament started, so I know how you feel. But it's just the way things are supposed to be."

"I don't care!" Neptune said. "Our tenth anniversary was this year and I didn't even get to celebrate it properly!"

"None of us did Neptune," Blanc said, "which is why we've been organizing a brake for all of us!"

Neptune was stunned silent. "Come again?" she said.

"We've been organizing a day off for all of us to celebrate our tenth anniversary," Noire said, "and officially announce our next game to the public."

"Why wasn't I told about this!?" Neptune said.

"A," Vert said, "you would just go and blurt it out to everybody. And B, we were going to tell you today since most of the preparations are done, if you hadn't gone and run off!"

"Well now I feel like a dick," Neptune said.

"Good," Noire said, pushing Neptune over to Blanc's restraining touch. "Now let's get you back." She turned her gaze to the Fighters that were still on stand-by. "And none of you will speak of what you heard here."

"Our lips are sealed," the Fighters said.

Vert turned her gaze over to the YouTubers. "Terribly sorry for the trouble," she said. "But you know that Neptune can be a bit troublesome."

"Uh... it's okay...?" Korone said uncertainly.

"Quick question though," Tamaki said, "are we also in trouble?"

"Certainly not," Vert said. "Neptune's just a handful that we wouldn't wish upon anybody."

"Thank goodness," Aqua said. "I'm happy to hear that!"

"You're telling me!" Akari said, looking through her camera. "I got some amazing shots right now! I didn't even know limbs could bend that way!"

"We'll see you all next rehearsal," Noire said.

"Uh.. about that!" Hime said, edging over to the goddesses. "Y'see, we never got an invitation for your game. Are we gonna be DLC like AI-chan?"

"Oh, sorry about that," Noire said, "but you're not in the game, period."

"What!?" Hime said.

Neptune suddenly began staring blankly ahead.

"Why?" Hina added. "Why don't you want us in the game?"

"Blanc tap out. Tap out!" Neptune said, allowing Blanc to take her back now. The same pillar of light came down as the Gamindustri denizens all vanished! HimeHina were startled as their eyes turned comically white!

"Hey!" Hime said, bouncing up and down waving her arms! "Come back!"

"Don't leave us out!" Hina said, falling to her knees.

* * *

The following day, the CPUs were all gathered together, ready to take a proper brake to celebrate the anniversary! They were gathered with their little sisters, who were ready to take their own excursion. Master Hand was present as well, offering them a getaway with a snap of his fingers.

"Are you sure you'll be fine without us for a short while?" Blanc asked.

"Certainly," Master Hand replied. "This is far from my first rodeo, ladies. Enjoy yourselves for a time, I'll handle everything here."

"Thanks MH!" Neptune said. "Say guys," she added to the CPUs, "sorry I went awol for a bit."

"It's alright Neptune," Blanc replied. "The last person who should judge for feeling the stress of managing Smash Bros., it's me."

"I think after so long," Noire said. "We all deserve some a day off. Now most especially."

"Precisely," Vert said. "It's not every time that a series gets to celebrate its tenth anniversary, nor with as many games under their belt. For all intents and purposes, we're very lucky."

"Straight up!" Neptune said. "And we really owe it to our players too for keeping us going!" She put a hand to her chest with an honest smile on her face. "I wish I could see each and every one of them and say, 'Thank you for playing'!"

The others couldn't help but agree. They went to enjoy a peaceful but fun day to themselves, and when they came back, they had a big announcement for everyone! The 4 CPUs stood on stage, all of them in HDD form, with Purple Heart at the center podium! A massive crowd stood out before them with natives of Gamindustri and visitors for the Tournament, eagerly watching for what they had to say!

"People of Gamindustri and beyond!" Purple Heart said. "10 years ago, this year, our series released it's first game! The very first Hyperdimension Neptunia on the PS3! Our series has been going strong and has no intention of slowing down any time soon! But I'm sure you're all wondering, what's gonna come about next?"

"Well, it does my heart good to announce that for you, today! Our next game, following the release of Neptunia Virtual Stars on the PS4, will be the first entry of the series for the upcoming PS5! We'd love to reveal more than that, but we can't spoil too much too soon! But I can give you, the title!"

She held up a sign of the game's logo, which read: Go! Go! 5 Jigen Neptune re*Verse!

The crowd cheered at the sight! The other CPUs smiled encouragingly at Neptune, as the Goddess of Planeptune stood with that proud smile she made in HDD on her face! "Finally," she said quietly. "I'm starting to feel like I got my own back!"

* * *

_**A/N: A few days ago, August 19th to be exact, we hit the 10th anniversary of Hyperdimension Neptunia. On that day, it was announced we'd be getting Go! Go! 5 Jigen Game Neptune reVerse, set for release on the PS5! With both this announcement, and Neptunia Virtual Stars, my faith in Neptunia is continuously rewarded and my hope of Neptune in Smash continues!**_

_**For this chapter, I decided to emphasize Neptune experiencing her own stresses with managing the Tournament, as a bit of reflection of myself for a bit too. In case those of you following SmashDimension and CTCC may have noticed, I've been updating at the speed of molases! And that's only because, I barely have time to write anything! And when I do, I'm so scatterbrained I'm looking at other potential projects instead of updating my preestablished content! So Neptune kind of became my outlet for my frustrations in her being unable to play games as a reflection of my inability to write, because of being too busy with other things! I hope you don't take that as an excuse on my part, and I do sincerely apologize again for updating so slowly.**_

_**I actually enjoyed focusing on Neptune again for this one, as I haven't focused on her as much as one might assume, considering I've actually been trying to balance out the other characters as much as I can. But considering she's the "main character" as she will proudly admit, I figured that for a chapter that has to deal with this type of element, it would be important to bring her back to focus. **_

_**I also made direct reference to Neptunia Virtual Stars for this one, purely as an excuse to showcase some of the VTubers that will be present in the game! I didn't include any of the more prevalent characters in the game like Mii or Yu, and only briefly showed Fair, because there isn't a lot of information about them as of yet. I also didn't use a lot of the VTubers from the game, because most of them I'm unfortunately not familiar with, whether it be because their content is hard to find, I haven't watched them as much as others, or they don't have any translated videos. **_

_**The odd ones out in this case are actually Tanaka Hime and Suzuki Hina of HimeHina Channel! The main reason for that is because they are actually my favorite Virtual YouTubers, and I was only the slightest bit bitter over the fact that my favorite VTubers were not gonna be included in the next big Neptunia game! Seriously though, if you haven't checked them out yet, you totally should! They're both total dorks, are always fun, and have you HEARD THEM SING!? I genuinely love their content, as they always find a way to make me smile, which is always appreciated.**_

_**(Also, kind of a sad story, not too long ago they announced they'd have plushies available on their website that were set for release in October. I was going to get some, but they sold out... I'm only a little dead inside after that hit me.)**_

_**Not much else to say about this one! I may or may not go back and update it to flow a little bit differently, but as it is now I still like it!**_

_** Just a quick question though, can fanfics about VTubers count? Because, I read that fanfictions about "regular" YouTubers are not allowed since, well, they're real people. However, I am scarce to say that VTubers count, especially with the number of crossovers they have in other things like mobile games and, well, Neptunia now, so if I can I'd love to write something with them!**_

_**Reviews!**_

_**To ChimaTigon: Yes. I am very familiar with Dr. Eggman's legendary announcement.**_

_**To ptl: Honestly, I based the design I had of Prospero on most common depictions of gijinka-fied PS5s. I have seen Merryweather's comics and know them well, but I didn't base it off of her specifically. I actually tried making her far younger than the rather... endowed depictions Merryweather tends to make, but that's besides the point.**_

_**To Zindakku Hirokai: I do enjoy the idea of the CPUs having angels, but I wouldn't begin to know how that'd work without a lot more OCs. And yeah, I think it's always important to have variety when it comes to information. Less biased that way. Also, the idea of Polygon-Man cursing Noire is hilarious!**_

_**To TheLazyLala221: That is such a heartwarming comment! I am very happy that you enjoy and think I'm portraying the CPUs well! I hope I can continue to entertain!**_

_**I hope to update again soon! Let me know your thoughts, have a wonderful evening, and take care!**_


	24. Stage 22: Double Tricky Trouble

**Stage 22: Start!**

In the world of the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, with their current setting in the land of Gamindustri, two little menaces that find a way to screw with everyone were none other than the CPU Candidates of Lowee, Blanc's younger sisters themselves, Rom and Ram. It wasn't that the Candidates were particularly trouble makers like the Inklings, they were just… well, a bit overly enthusiastic. Truth be told, they loved practically everyone that came to the Tournament and treated them like family, but like any family they can also be a bit overboard when it comes to their fun.

Poor Lucas found that out the hard way, as he was simply walking down the street minding his own business, when he saw a bush rustle beside him. He looked over at it curiously, wondering what could be inside. With his stick at the ready in case it was a smaller Enemy, Lucas walked over and carefully pushed the leaves aside. That's when the face of Nemesis from Resident Evil jumped out from the bush right at his face! Lucas screamed and jumped back, curled up in a ball of fright! Until he heard laughter.

Lucas looked up and saw Ram laughing hysterically, revealing that the Nemesis Lucas saw was actually a mask! "Gotcha Lucas!" she laughed. Even Rom standing beside her couldn't help but repress some giggles.

"Y-you're not too scared are you?" she asked.

"That was not nice!" Lucas said. "I was petrified!"

"Not our fault you're a scaredy cat!" Ram laughed. She put her mask aside and held a hand out to Lucas. "I am sorry," she said. "But that was really funny!"

Lucas pouted, but took Ram's hand and said, "it's okay. Just please don't do that again!"

"I make no promises," Ram laughed, before she ran off with Rom right beside her!

Later that day, Rom and Ram saw Pac-Man and Kirby entering the Mintendo Noodle House for lunch, and instantly knew what they were gonna do with them. Min Min delivered their orders to the two, and the twins got to work. Rom ran over and held her staff aloft, aiming right behind Pac-Man. She let out a shot right behind the cherry muncher, spooking him and causing him to look around! As he did, Ram hurried over and scooped out half of his noodles into an empty bowl!

As Kirby was ready to enjoy himself, the twins did the same to him as well, with Rom spooking him with a shot and Ram running over and grabbing half of his noodles into the same bowl! By the time both Pac-Man and Kirby looked back to their bowls, they were shocked to find half of their food gone! "He did it," Rom and Ram said, gesturing to the other.

Kirby and Pac-Man glared at one another, no methods of communication being dispatched aside from glares of deepest loathing! The two got into a scramble, ending up as a ball of pink and yellow as they brawled with one another to the point they rolled out of the Mintendo Noodle House! The twins snickered as they enjoyed their full bowl of noodles, made from the stolen noodles. From the side, Min Min had been watching the entire scene, and could only let out a disgruntled sigh.

Next the twins decided to play a trick on Mega Man. The poor super fighting robot was still petrified of Nepgear, and did everything in his power to avoid her. The twins knew this, and were ready to take advantage of it.

Ram hid somewhere to the side, holding a powerful drill in her hand. She turned it on, the sound loud enough for Mega Man to hear it! He jumped, recalling the experience he had with Nepgear when she tried to take him apart, Mega Buster at the ready off of pure instinct!

"W-wha-!?" he said. The twins watched him shudder, giggling to themselves. Mega Man tried to rationalize the situation, turning off his gun. "I-it's fine," he told himself. "That's probably not Nepgear. It's just a Mii working on some equipment or something, I'm sure."

Ram nodded to Rom, before turning on the drill again! The blue clad twin ran over to Mega Man and poked him in the side to get his attention. "Mr. Mega Man!" she said. "Nepgear told me she's looking for you! She got a new tool that can disassemble you in less than a second!"

Mega Man paled at the sight, before running as far away as he could as fast as he could run, screaming all the while! The twins laughed again at the terrified robot! "Poor Mr. Mega Man," Ram said. "How could anyone be scared of Nepgear?"

These antics continued for the next day or so, before Mario found himself actually looking for the twins himself. Blanc was far too busy at the moment to deal with them herself, so the task of putting them back in line fell onto Mr. Video Game himself. He was looking around Lowee as hard as he could, calling out to the twins as he walked.

"Rom? Ram?" he said. "It's time-a to come out-a!"

"Hey Mario," Sonic replied. Mario turned to the Blue Blur, before doing a double take, as he saw Sonic pinned beneath a sleeping Plutia. "Looking for the twins?" Sonic asked casually.

"Uh… yes-a," Mario replied. "Lady Blanc has been-a getting a lot of reports of Fighters complaining about the twins-a antics. But-a, Sonic, pray tell, why are you pinned-a under Lady Plutia?"

"It would take too long to explain," Sonic replied. "Short version, she got lonely and felt I was paying too much attention to Neptune and not her. Anyway, if you're looking for the twins, they're currently playing with ROB and Pichu in the park."

"Understood," Mario said. "Thank-a you, Sonic."

"No problem," Sonic replied, not making any visible effort to free himself from Plutia.

Mario walked over to the park where he saw the twins using ROB's gyro to play with Pichu, the electric mouse chasing it like a dog chasing a frisbee. Mario couldn't help but smile at the sight of the twins happily enjoying themselves. "Hello you two!" he called.

"Oh, Uncle Mario!" the twins said happily.

"What's up?" Ram asked.

"Are you here to play too?" Rom added.

"Unfortunately, I'm-a not," Mario replied. "Actually, your sister asked-a me to have a talk-a with you two."

"Okay…" Ram said. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"

"In a way, yes-a," Mario said. "Blanc-a told me that you have been-a playing too many pranks on-a the other Fighters."

"What do you mean?" Ram asked. "We're just having fun!"

"I know-a," Mario replied. "But that-a fun is at the expense of others. Mega Man certainly did not-a like believing that Nepgear was trying to-a take him apart again, which only worsens their relationship more-a. And Kirby and-a Pac-man could have-a hurt each other in their fight. Or somebody else-a knowing how seriously they take-a their food-a."

"The point I'm-a trying to make-a is that you should take it down a notch-a. It's okay to play jokes, but not if it means hurting-a somebody else-a. Emotionally or physically."

Rom and Ram looked to one another. Now they felt bad about how they were taking their pranks, and were worried about the way they affected the others. "We didn't mean any harm," Rom said.

"I know," Mario replied. "And nobody holds it against-a you either. But please-a just take it down a bit and try some more innocent pranks-a."

"We will," the twins promised.

"Good," Mario said. "Now you can-a go back to your game-a. I think I need to-a help-a Sonic with Lady Plutia."

"Okay!" the twins said.

The rest of the day, the twins merely spent their time walking around, not playing any tricks, as they decided to start thinking of new ways of playing around with others. They decided that if they were going to do that, they would have to find an expert. And, as luck would have it, they had Sans.

They found the skeleton at the Gift Shop that he made up back in Planeptune, just sleeping at the counter. He had since moved it to Lowee around where the Noodle House was for, as he put it, superior marketing skills. The twins ran over, Ram pulling out her staff and slamming it on the counter to spook Sans awake!

"Wake up lazybones!" she said.

"was that a play on me being a skeleton?" Sans asked, instantly aware.

"Yeah," Ram replied.

"good one," Sans said. "so, what brings you here?"

"Mr. Sans," Rom said, "we're trying to think of how we can keep having fun with all of our Fighter friends, but not hurt anyone in the process. Do you think you can help?"

"well you came to the right spot," Sans replied. "I pride myself on my joking abilities, so I know just what you can do. Y'see, the best way you can joke with somebody, is by being clever. Think of who you're targeting and a way you can make them laugh, as well as yourself."

"Make them laugh too?" Ram asked.

"yeah," Sans replied. "figure out what they know and enjoy, and think of what you can do that they'll find funny, even if it's at their expense."

"Oh, okay!" Rom said. "I think we get it? Right Ram?"

"Yeah!" Ram said. "I gotcha! Thanks a lot Sans!"

"no problem," Sans replied. "by the way, did that nemesis mask I give you work?"

"Like a charm!" Ram laughed.

The twins ran off, hoping to find a target that they can mess with, but in good fun. What they didn't know was that somebody was watching them as they ran. And as soon as they got far enough away from anyone else, they pounced.

The twins were bounced off of the ground by the force of the individual jumping behind them! Rom and Ram looked over, and saw a large, familiar face that caused them both to pale at the sight of them, sitting right behind them! The fat, long-tongued, cackling form of Trick!

"Why hello again little maidens!" he cackled. "I'm so happy for this opportunity to see you again! I must admit, when I heard you talking to that skeleton, I was touched by your honest nature! Oh it makes me just that much happier to engage with you!"

"Trick!" Ram said, holding her staff. "How are you back? We beat you once and for all!"

"Oh my dears!" Trick said. "Don't you know that in the anime continuity I was never killed? I was merely defeated!"

"Oh yeah," Ram said, slouching in defeat. "That's true."

"Well, we're not gonna let you mess with us!" Rom said. "I can't stand the idea of being caught by you again!"

The twins glowed with energy, ready to transform, only to get slapped with Trick's disgusting tongue, right across the tops of their heads! They were disgusted by the sensation, but felt something even worse. Crystals were cemented to their skin by Trick's saliva, draining them of their energy and keeping them from transforming!

Trick cackled in delight! "Now you lovely maidens won't use that pesky HDD of yours!" he said. "And I can have you all to myself!"

Both girls balked in horror, knowing that they wouldn't be strong enough to fight him without HDD. "Run?" Ram asked. "Run!" Rom added.

Thankfully, not far away, a small group of helpers were walking down the streets on their way to the Paper Mario stage, consisting of Lucina, Mega Man, Falco, and Mario.

"Rock," Lucina said, "eventually you will have to get over this fear of Lady Nepgear. She is actually a very sweet and polite individual, and I've heard she does regret scaring you as much as she did."

"I know, I know," Mega Man said. "I don't even know how I can be as fearful of her as I am as my programming is not on par with that as a Reploid, meaning I shouldn't be as traumatized by her as I am."

"I think it's best not to worry about it," Falco said, "and just do as Lucina said and try to reconcile with Lady Nepgear."

Mario was merely listening in to the conversation, not offering his own insight, but being patient as always. As the group continued walking, they were surprised by the sudden sound of screaming! Very familiar voices at that.

"Is that Rom and Ram?" Lucina asked.

"They're in trouble!?" Falco said in shock.

"Where!?" Mario said, suddenly on high alert!

"I can take you to them," Sans's voice piped in, prompting the group to see him standing to the side, gesturing for them to follow.

The group was taken to a street, where they saw the twins turn a corner, running in an absolute panic! "Mr. Falco! Ms. Lucina! Uncle Mario! Help!" they yelled. But as they ran, a long, disgusting tongue wrapped around them and picked them up in the air, rolling them around, coating them in saliva, as a sadistic voice cackled in glee!

Trick stepped out from the corner, laughing as he had the twins at their mercy! That's when all hell broke loose.

Lucina launched in, slashing at his tongue with the Falchion, causing him to yell in pain as he dropped the twins, Sans appearing and catching them, before he took them away. A charged shot from the Mega Buster blasted Trick in the gut, as Falco shot in with a Falco Phantasm, before kicking Trick in the back and shooting him several times with his blaster! Lucina launched Trick in the air with a slash from her sword, catching him in an aerial combo, before slamming him to the ground, just in time for Mega Man to slash him with several Metal Blades! And just before he hit the ground, Falco caught him with a Fire Bird, sending him back into the air, in time for Mega Man to blast him to the ground with a Hard Knuckle, right into an impaling shot from Lucina!

Trick rolled across the ground, disoriented and in immense pain from the smack down he was receiving! The trio of Fighters were all glaring at him with severe hatred, none of them willing to give him any sort of mercy! Trick could see this, as he tried to defend himself!

"W-w-wait!" he said. "T-there's cleary a misunder-!"

Before he could finish, Mario jumped down from above, planting both feet firmly into Trick's chest! He then proceeded to deliver a flurry of punches right into his face, still standing on his gut! He let up only to jump to the ground, and launch him into the air with a powerful kick! Mario jumped up after, delivering an uppercut that blew three coins from Trick's head! He propelled himself forward again, slamming both of his feet into Trick's chin, before using his Cape Feather to send him over Trick, and slammed his feet into the fat monster's head!

Trick was sent blasted back to the ground, and before he could even consider that the assault was over, a Smash Ball spawned right in front of Mario, allowing him to break it! Body now glowing rainbow colors, Mario held out both of his hands to his sides, flames erupting from them! He blasted his Mario Finale right at Trick, engulfing the monster in a pillar of fire!

Trick was left laying on the ground, body charred from the fire! Mario landed beside him, and was still not done! In stone cold seriousness, he grabbed Trick's tongue, picking him up with impressive strength and spinning him around! He spun in a blur of motion, before launching Trick away into the sky, where he vanished with a glint in the air!

The others stared at Mario in impressed awe. Even Sans couldn't deny that the sight was impressive. "wow," he said simply.

"Oh my gosh Uncle Mario!" Ram said. "That was awesom-!"

She was cut off as Mario pulled both Rom and Ram in a hug! "Are you both-a okay!?" he said desperately. "That-a monster didn't hurt you too much did he?"

"N-no Uncle Mario," Rom replied. "We're okay. Just grossed out from all that spit!"

Mario pulled himself away, his chest now covered in saliva as well. "I can-a see," he said. "Well, let's-a get you cleaned up. And I think-a it'll be good to get you to bed-a early."

"Okay Uncle Mario," Rom said. "Thank you for saving us."

"Yeah! Thanks a lot everyone!" Ram added.

"Of course," Lucina said. "There was no way we could let that monster… violate you two like that!"

"Seriously," Falco said. "Any monster that tries to mess with you two, we'll obliterate and have them beg for mercy!"

"Even you Mr. Mega Man?" Rom asked.

Rock was taken aback, but realized she was probably referencing their prank on him. "Of course," he said. "While your joke did scare me a bit, I'm not one to hold a grudge. And I care about you both a lot, just as much as anyone else."

"Doesn't hold a grudge," Lucina said, "except for Nepgear."

Mega Man flinched in response to that, which prompted everyone else to laugh.

Later that night, Blanc returned to her home, where she was told by Lucina, Mega Man, and Falco about the incident with Trick earlier that night. She was horrified to hear that her sisters were put at risk, but was relieved to hear that they weren't hurt and the other Fighters were quick to help them. "Thank you all," Blanc said. "You don't know how much it means to me to have you all look after my sisters like that."

"Of course Lady Blanc," Lucina said. "We would never let any foul creature hurt them."

"Where are they now?" Blanc asked.

"Mario's putting them to bed," Falco replied.

"Understood," Blanc replied. "You should all get some rest as well before your next battle."

"Will do," Mega Man replied. He and the others wished her a good night, as Blanc went over to the bedroom to check on her little sisters. Sure enough, he saw Mario reading them a story, sitting in a chair next to their beds, as the twins appeared to already be asleep.

As soon as he finished, he kissed them both on their foreheads, and left the room, meeting Blanc outside. "Hello-a Lady Blanc," he greeted.

"Hello Mario," Blanc replied. "The others told me you gave Trick quite the thrashing for attacking my sisters."

"But of course-a," Mario replied. "I care about the two as if they were my own-a flesh and blood-a. I would-a never let them face harm."

Blanc smiled and put a hand on Mario's shoulder. "And that means a lot to me," she said. "It's a relief to see everyone care so much about them. Even if they can be a handful."

"They're-a still young," Mario replied. "By goddess standards at-a least. They should have a chance to still be-a young."

Blanc and Mario wished each other a good night, before they got themselves ready for sleep. The following morning, the denizens of Gamindustri saw the twins partaking in some less strenuous pranks. Rather, they took Sans's advice and began enjoying some more playful jokes that more often than not even managed to make their victims laugh.

This not only made the Fighters feel better, but it also made the twins feel good too. "I'll admit, Rom," Ram said, "I actually feel better making the others laugh rather than just mess with them and make them upset."

"Yeah!" Rom said. "Mr. Sans was right!"

They continued walking, when they saw Pit and Nepgear walking down a nearby path. The twins shared a look, and grinned wickedly. "But we never said we couldn't still mess with Nepgear or Uni," Ram said menacingly.

As Pit and Nepgear walked down the path, they suddenly heard the twins chanting behind them!

"Pitty and Gearsy, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a handheld in a baby carriage!"

Pit and Nepgear had their faces redden dramatically as they saw the twins laughing and skipping behind them!

"H-hey you two!" Nepgear said. "That's not nice!"

"Yeah!" Pit said. "Don't go calling us a couple like that!"

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" the twins laughed again.

Nepgear and Pit proceeded to chase the CPU Candidates of Lowee around, as Sonic and Mario watched them run from nearby.

"I thought you convinced them to not joke around so much?" Sonic asked.

"I suppose-a all bets are off when it-a comes-a to their fellow Candidates," Mario replied. "We can't-a really help-a that."

* * *

_**A/N: I'm gonna be honest, I didn't anticipate posting another SmashDimension chapter so soon, but I was just chilling out and this randomly manifested. This is based on a suggestion by Neptunia56 where they wanted to see Rom and Ram just messing about. I decided to mostly play off of their more mischievous sides, given they see most of the Fighters like extended family, thus prompting them to feel more comfortable playing pranks on them, but given they're still young, they might have to be reeled in so as not to go too far.**_

_**I brought in Trick strictly because I wanted to showcase Mario going ballistic with parental rage, and I think I did well in that. And like Trick himself said, he was still alive in the anime continuity, so that was my work around.**_

_**Overall, I enjoyed writing this chapter. It isn't full blown one of my absolute favorited, but I still liked it. And I hope you enjoyed too, because at the end of the day, that is all that matters! And for those waiting for the next CTCC chapter, rest assured I will get to that next chance I have. I already know what I want to do next, it's just a matter of having the right moment to do it.**_

_**(Also, for those that haven't heard yet, ArcSystem and WayForward - the same people responsible for the Shantae series - are gonna be working on a RWBY solo game. There's no announcement for what type of game it'd gonna be, but one can assume it's gonna be another fighting game. Either way, I know for a fact it's gonna be hype and I am stoked!)**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To ChimaTigon: If there are enough requests, than I shall reference Dr. Eggman's announcement . It wouldn't be too farfetched for me go do so, so like I said, if people want me to do so, I shall.**_

_**To Xeno6804: That's awesome to hear! Happy belated birthday!**_

_**To Tony Anderson: Thanks for the good wishes! Also, I did get your PM, I just didn't reply since I'm a dum dum. But I dig your request!**_

_**To ARSLOTHES: Ask and ye shall receive. To be honest, I hope I get everyone to appreciate Pitgear. (And yes, that is the new official ship name for them.)**_

_**And finally to Sonic245: Yeah, I'll flesh out Sonic and Neptune's relationship. It's not gonna be a shipping, because that skeeves me out. But rather, I just want to flesh out hid connection between himself and all of the Planeptune CPUs.**_

_**As always, thank you for reading! Be safe, let me know your suggestions, and until next time, take care!**_


	25. Stage 23: You Build Me Up

Nepgear was nervous. That much was… honestly not anything new. Nepgear was naturally good at worrying in strenuous situations, thanks in part due to her staggering inferiority complex. But today was a special case.

It was announced recently that the new Fighter to the Super Smash Bros. Tournament were none other than Steve from Minecraft, along with his alt. Alex, and even Zombie and Enderman as doubles for them as well. Nepgear thought that it wasn't that surprising that they would appear in the Tournament, especially with how notable Minecraft itself actually was. But what followed after Nepgear was told about this was another thing entirely.

"You want me to what!?" Nepgear asked.

"We need you to show Steve and the other Minecraft reps around Gamindustri," Neptune replied.

"B-but why me!?" Nepgear replied. "Don't you guys usually do that?"

"Duh," Neptune replied. "But we can't do that this time because we gotta work on the Stage for them."

"You've never had to do that before!" Nepgear replied.

"Well this time is different," Neptune replied. "Since Minecraft is… what it is, we have to revise the Stage and ensure that it's fighting fit by the time the Showcase starts!"

Nepgear looked nervous. She still wasn't sure she could handle showing a new Fighter around Gamindustri by herself. Sure she was technically a goddess, but that still didn't make her feel better when having to show a celebrity Fighter around.

"Jr.! Hey! Nep Jr.!" Neptune said, catching her attention.

"Uh! Y-yes?" Nepgear said.

"I was saying," Neptune replied, "if you're nervous you can just ask the other Candidates to help you. You know that right?"

Nepgear blinked a few times in surprise, the obvious hitting her like a smack in the face. "Oh," she said. "R-right! Uh, thanks sis!"

"No problem," Neptune replied. "Anyway, I gotta go or else Blanc will crush me for being late on this. See ya later!"

She waved to her little sister as both Planeptune CPU and Candidate left the Planeptower to go to their respective tasks. Nepgear called Uni, Rom, and Ram and got them to agree to help her show the new Fighters around Gamindustri.

By the time they arrived at the rendezvous point, Nepgear couldn't help but notice her best friend acting rather distant. Uni was staring off into space with her arms crossed, a more conflicted expression than usual on her face. "Uh, Uni?" Nepgear asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Fine," Uni replied harshly.

"No you're not," the twins said bluntly.

Uni ground her teeth. "It's nothing that concerns you," she said. "I just… I'm just feeling unhappy in my work, okay?"

"You mean aiding the Fighters?" Nepgear asked.

"Yeah," Uni replied. "I'm just stressed all the time now."

"Are they giving you trouble?" Nepgear asked.

The twins giggled. "Not all of them," Ram said. "Just _one_."

"Yeah! Mr. Dark Pit!" Rom giggled.

"Dark Pit?" Nepgear asked.

"Hey!" Uni said. "Drop it! It's not your problem!"

"If Dark Pit is giving you trouble," Nepgear said, "I can always talk to Pit and see if he can help."

"I already just said," Uni replied, "it's not your problem! So… d-don't pity me and worry about something that doesn't involve you!" Her face was turning bright red at the judgemental expressions of her fellow Candidates, and she did her best to change the subject for her own sake.

"A-anyway!" she said. "Shouldn't we be talking about the new Fighters? Like, can you honestly believe that Minecraft of all games got a representative? Let alone technically four?"

"Honestly?" Nepgear replied. "Yes, I totally can."

"Huh?" Uni wondered. "Really? You can?"

Nepgear nodded. "You can't?" she asked.

"Well," Uni said, "it's not that I can't. It's more like I just find it… weird."

"Well," Nepgear said, "in my book, the Super Smash Bros. Tournament is a showcase of notable video games. And whether you like it or not, you can't deny that Minecraft is one of the biggest and most influential games in the past decade. It's honestly something of a phenomenon. And it's honestly pleasing to see it getting more positive attention again in the public eye as of recently. If they wanted to bring a representative, now is as good a time as any."

Uni felt a tug at the side of her mouth. "I suppose," she said. "Still, I find it weird. I mean… what are they going to do?"

"We'll see!" the twins said.

"I'm honestly happy with the idea of meeting them!" Rom said. "I think it'd be really nice to see different things from their world too!"

"Please don't have any griefers," Nepgear said. "I don't even want to think of how Blanc or Noire would flip out if they found parts of their country destroyed for no reason."

"Honestly," Uni said, "if given the chance, I think Rom and Ram would make the perfect griefers."

"Rude!" the twins said.

Before long, Steve, Alex, the Zombie, and Enderman appeared in front of them at the Terraportation port. Nepgear tensed up immediately, her fear and anxiety of having to take responsibility of making a good impression coming back at her! She found herself clamming up and unable to properly communicate!

Thankfully, she had taken the precaution of calling the others. "Hello there!" the twins said.

"We're the CPU Candidates of Gamindustri," Uni added. "I'm Uni, CPU Candidate of Lastation. This is Nepgear, CPU Candidate of Planeptune. And these two are Rom and Ram, CPU Candidates of Lowee. We apologize that our older sisters are not here, but rest assured they're working on your Stage at the moment, ensuring that it is a proper Stage for you all. You will meet them later, I promise, and they will give you a proper welcome."

Steve and Alex were utterly silent, but nodded in understanding.

Nepgear was taken aback by Uni's speech. _Wow, _she said. _I know Uni can take her role seriously, but I'm surprised that she was able to act so professional right on the spot._

"So," Uni said, "shall we get going?"

Steve and Alex nodded again, but as they took a few steps forward, Alex looked over and jumped in surprise. The others looked in the direction she was indicating and saw that the Zombie had begun wandering about.

"Oh no," Nepgear said. "We need to figure out how to restrain him from hurting anybody during the tour!"

"We've got him!" Rom and Ram said. The twins ran over with their staffs in hand and the other Candidates tensed up!

"P-please be careful!" Uni said. "If you two get bitten and turned into zombies, Blanc will utterly destroy us!"

"Yes!" the twins said.

"Why of all entities," Nepgear said, "did a basic zombie have to become a Fighter?"

"And why couldn't Master Hand or Mr. Sakurai put some basic restrictions on him?" Uni asked. "If he's going to be a Fighter he should have some basic understanding of what is happening."

At that moment, Crazy Hand manifested above them, spooking the living daylights out of everyone! "Might I reiterate," he said, "that we're busy getting things ready? That will come later! Thank you!" He vanished just as fast as he appeared.

"O-okay then," Uni said. "Anyway, as I was saying, let's go-" she stopped herself as she realized something else. "Wait a minute. One… two… three… Nepgear?"

"Y-yes?" Nepgear replied.

"How many of them were there?" Uni asked.

"Four," Nepgear replied.

"Really?" Uni replied. "I count three."

The others looked around, and realized that Uni was right. The Enderman had vanished.

"Oh no," Nepgear replied. "We can't just let a wild Enderman run around unchecked! Uh, Uni, do you think you can handle things from here while I go find it?"

"What? No way!" Ram said. "Let us catch the Enderman. You two can go for the boring tour!"

"Really?" Uni asked. "You think you two can handle it?"

"We've handled worse than one Enderman," Rom said certainly.

"O-okay," Nepgear said, taking the end of the rope the twins tied the Zombie in. "If you two say so."

From there, the twins ran off, determined to catch the Enderman. Nepgear was still skeptical about the logic in allowing the twins to handle the Enderman alone. But she knew they had a point.

"I just hope they can catch that thing before it causes pandemonium," Nepgear said sadly.

From nearby, Steve and Alex shared a look, tilting their heads at each other.

* * *

Meanwhile, Nana and Popo - known collectively as the Ice Climbers - were merely enjoying themselves in Leanbox, eating and chatting with one another. That is, until the roar of motorbikes caught their attention! They looked up from their table and saw Wario racing past, IF and Compa chasing right behind him on IF's own bike! IF was finally able to smash into Wario's bike from behind, knocking the fat man off of it and sending him rolling around!

IF got off her bike and began breathing slowly. "Finally caught you!" she said. "Now then! Give back those Pokeballs you rotten thief!"

"Uh, Iffy…?" Compa said. "I think you might have been a bit too rough with him. He might have a concussion."

"Naw… I'mma fine…" Wario replied, slowly sitting up. "This is not-a fair! I would-a take-a care of them!"

"Doesn't matter," IF replied. "Give them back!"

Wario growled and grabbed his bag of stolen Pokeballs, before starting to run toward a line of bushes in the hopes of concealing himself and escaping! That is, until he ran right into Popo, who froze his legs in place! The Ice Climbers duo laughed in delight, as Wario continued to desperately try freeing himself! IF and Compa smiled in delight at their efforts.

"Thanks, you two," IF said.

The Climbers nodded, before Nana noticed something else. She saw a purple glow being emitted from the bushes they were currently standing in front of. She gestured for Popo to look, and before long the entire group were wondering what she was worried over.

That is, until they saw a pair of purple eyes slowly rising up from the bushes. The group jumped in surprise as they saw the Enderman staring back at them. And they were too late to realize the mistake in their prolonged eye contact they were having with it.

The Enderman roared in anger, prompting the rest of the group to scream in horror!

"There it is!" Ram shouted, having transformed into her HDD form!

"Don't let it get away!" Rom added.

Too late, as the Enderman positively bulldozed over Wario and the Ice Climbers as it ran to parts unknown! IF had managed to grab ahold of it, but only got pulled along behind it as it ran away in a flurry of purple sparks! "Iffy! Wait for me!" Compa called, as she and the White Sisters followed after her!

Sounds of chaos could be heard as the Enderman ran down the busy streets at full peg, knocking over anyone that got in its way and even lashing out at a few unfortunate individuals! It steamrolled over Diddy Kong! Blew Falcom into the air! And charged through a crowd consisting of 5pb, Banjo, Kazooie, Villager, Isaac, Poo, Million Arthur, RED, Roll, Edelgard, and Snake!

The latter saw as the Enderman finally threw IF from its shoulders before continuing its rampage! There were far, far too many eyes on it for its liking, prompting it to go ballistic as it wanted to attack everything that was looking at it! Snake found it hard to not watch it, only tearing its eyes away as Compa and the White Sisters ran over!

"Do I… particularly _want _to know what this is about?" Snake asked.

"Uh," Rom and Ram said, as Compa promptly ran over to help IF and the other injured characters. "Meet your new Fighter?" Ram said nervously.

Snake raised a brow. He was not particularly enthralled with the ideas of having to restrain some runaway monster. But he was also as wise as any other as to the chaos that would unfold if the CPUs found out what was happening.

"Let's just get this thing taken care of," he said, "before it gets any worse than it clearly is already."

Rom and Ram nodded enthusiastically. They had to prove their point they made earlier correct. They couldn't just afford to lose to one Enderman.

"Iffy, are you okay?" Compa said, having finished healing IF. The fellow Maker sat up, and was stunned by what she saw.

The Enderman was desperately looking for a block to pick up, but couldn't find anything as Gamindustri didn't consist of blocks like its native world! Rom and Ram were desperately trying to pepper it with projectiles, but it was proving too fast and was able to retaliate at every turn! Snake was trying to attack from the ground, but the Enderman was still too fast for him!

IF felt her eye twitching. "I… really wish I hadn't seen this," she said.

* * *

Back with the other Candidates, the group continued showing Steve, Alex, and the tied down Zombie around Gamindustri. With her increasing relaxation in her current situation, Nepgear was starting to show herself to be competent and capable of giving off good information to the others as she continued to point out details about the different locations and denizens as she traveled. Uni was quick to point out anything Nepgear might have missed or elaborate on certain points, helping greatly in the process. Overall, the group was ideal for the task, and other Fighters or Makers and NPCs were able to notice this merely from walking by and saying 'hello' to them.

Steve and Alex were very patient, though they couldn't cleanly speak to them, they were still able to show that they were listening and taking in everything that was being said, and were appreciative of the Candidates' discussion points. The Zombie not so much, but that was for obvious reasons.

Eventually, the group arrived at the apartments where the Fighters were housed in Planeptune, and both Alex and Steve were looking over the location with great interest in their eyes. "And here," Nepgear said, "is where the Fighters are staying for the Tournament. And henceforth, you as well."

"We hope it's to your liking," Uni said. "And that certain neighbors don't bother you." She turned her gaze over to Ganondorf, who was looking over his swords from the doorway of his apartment. He grinned wickedly in delight, as he shut the door menacingly behind him.

"Yeah," Nepgear agreed.

Steve and Alex both nodded to one another, and began looking inside. As they left, Nepgear allowed her body to visibly relax. "Okay," she said, "I think that we did well. Yeah?"

"Yeah," Uni said. "I agree. Now all we need to do is find a place for this Zombie and hope that Rom and Ram caught the Enderman."

"Right," Nepgear said. "Let's call them and see if they finished up yet." As she pulled out her phone, that was when they heard shouts and yells of distress from nearby. Uni and Nepgear looked, and saw Toon Link, Duck Hunt, and Isabelle running from the Enderman, as it was roaring at them with a block in its hand!

"Get back here you nasty Enderman!" Rom and Ram called, continuing to shoot it, only to get blown aside as it warped over to them!

"Oh no!" Nepgear said.

"Of course that thing would cause havoc!" Uni said. "We should've gone along with them!"

With another solid swing, the twins were knocked from the air, rolling along as they turned back to their human forms! "Aw man," Ram said. "We ran outta energy!"

"Hang on you two!" Nepgear said, as she and Uni transformed into their own HDD forms!

Nepgear let loose a blast from her blade as Uni sniped from the air, but the Enderman was still far too fast with its warping! It launched into the air, knocking Uni's gun from her hand and slamming the CPU Candidate of Lastation to the ground! Before Nepgear could consider the situation, the Enderman warped behind her and threw her into a wall!

"Guh!" Uni said, sitting back up. "How can a single Mob have so much aggro!?"

"We gotta find a way to stop it!" Nepgear said, watching as the Enderman was still warping around like mad!

Before either of them could even start to come up with a plan, Steve and Alex were quick on the draw! Steve ran over and poured a bucket of water in the Enderman's path, causing it to roar in distress! It backed away, as Steve continued to pour water all over the opening of the street, until it was backed into a wall that Alex had made of glass blocks! She then poured water in between the blocks, creating a wall of water all around the Enderman, trapping it inside, as Steve finished the last wall that the Enderman had been pushed through!

Uni, Nepgear, and the twins were astonished. "Wow," Uni said. "They did that like it was their birthright."

The other Fighters began thanking Steve and Alex for helping them, as IF and Compa ran over. IF was panting and sweating and she looked like a mess! Her iconic, long coat was in tatters, her green bow was missing from her hair, which was also a mess! "You… finally… caught that thing!" she gasped.

"Oh, hey IF," Uni greeted. "Are you okay?"

"No! We're not!" IF said. "We've been chasing that thing around Gamindustri for nearly the past two hours!"

Compa finished running over. She didn't look as bad as IF, but she was clearly more exhausted. "Finally… done… running…!" she uttered, as she collapsed on the ground.

"Uh… s-sorry," Nepgear replied. "That was probably our fault. We were supposed to show it around with the others from Minecraft but it vanished on us. We're very sorry!"

"It's… fine…!" IF replied, still catching her breath. "Just… happy… it's… caught!"

A few hours later, word of the situation got to Mr. Sakurai, who was pleased with the efforts the others put in. He promised that restrictions on the Enderman and Zombie would be put in to ensure that they wouldn't cause any more havoc in the future, and asked that the Candidates, IF, and Compa would relax and take the rest of the day off. The other Fighters promised that they would help Steve and Alex finish settling in, and from there the girls got to enjoy the rest of their evening.

The goddesses were still working by the following morning it seemed, and as the others got ready for their day, they were astonished by what they found around the housing for the Fighters! "What the goodness!?" Nepgear said, summing up everyone's astonishment quite well.

As it happens, Steve and Alex had decided to… redecorate. They had constructed an extra balcony on the apartment building, with a huge canopy that stretched out with different things all over. On the other side of the building they had also created tiers of the roof that acted as stairs reaching down to the ground.

"I swear…" Uni said. "We should've seen something like this coming…"

"Well," Nepgear said, "at least it's more tolerable than an Enderman running around."

"Or a Zombie," Uni said, looking at the pen that the Zombie was currently being held in, where she saw something that made her jump! "You two, what're you doing?" she asked Rom and Ram, as they were poking the Zombie they had bound in rope with their staffs. "We're wondering if we KO this guy," Ram said, "if he'll drop rotten meat like in the game."

"Both of you," Nepgear said, "he might be a Mob, but he's still a Fighter! We have to respect him, same as always!"

The twins both gave disappointed pouts, as the other two sighed heavily.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Stage that was being constructed for Minecraft was almost completed. "Are you sure we can't have a Nether or an End portal?" Neptune asked.

"No!" the others replied.

"You're no fun," Neptune said sternly.

"Jeez," Uzume said, wiping her brow. "Why in the world did we have to do all this work just for one Stage?"

"Well," Vert replied, "it only fits given the series this is being built for."

"I'm just thankful it's almost complete," Blanc replied. Her eyes were surveying around the calm Forest Biome, as the Villagers were scuttling around peacefully, happy to be present as NPCs for the Tournament. The unique features of the Stage were what really had to be accounted for, and it seemed as if things were set to be ready.

"I still don't understand why we have to help finish this," Uzume said, "when it's supposed to be Master Hand's work."

"Master Hand has enough on his plate as it is," Blanc replied, "from combining the different aspects of Minecraft into the rest of the game. The fact that he was able to complete it this much is admirable, and we promised to help him in every way we can."  
"Still," Neptune said, "the sooner we can get this done and I can go back home and eat pudding, the better!"

"Agreed," Noire replied. "How much left is there, Blanc?"

"We just have to test it," Blanc replied. "After that we should be-" She was cut off, however, as she heard a hissing noise from behind her. She turned around and was met by the familiar green face of a Creeper, its body starting to glow.

Before anyone could stop it, the Creeper exploded right in front of Blanc, leaving a large crater in its wake that also blew up part of the house that was built for the Stage! Blanc picked herself back up, looking at the damage that was left by the Creeper, knowing full well that it would have to be rebuilt. Her face was glowing with anger, her eye turning red as rage was steadily fit to burst inside of her. Villagers ran into their homes, knowing full well what was going to follow!

Sure enough, from there, Blanc exploded. She was rushing around in a mad flurry of rage, screaming at the top of her voice as bursts of explosions were going off, complete with the Minecraft aesthetic, leaving blocks scattered everywhere as the CPU of Lowee was destroying the Stage at every turn! The other CPUs could only sigh heavily, knowing full well that somewhere just out of sight, Crazy Hand was laughing in delight.

* * *

_**A/N: So Steve is the next character for Smash. And the theme of me having no idea what Fighter is going to show up next continues. I'll be honest, I had no idea that this was coming! Naturally I don't follow "leaks" or rumors, but I at least get notified about them and think about the possibilities. And sure enough, this time around, nobody called it!**_

_**I sort of summed up some of my feelings about Steve being in Smash already through Nepgear, but to reiterate, I think that Steve being in Smash makes sense. Again, whether you like it or not, he **_**is **_**one of the biggest gaming icons in the past decade. And honestly being in a place like Smash makes perfect sense. As I heard somebody else mentioned in a post, "it was only a matter of time."  
I think it's really nice for Steve to be in Smash, and I'm sure he'll be super fun to play. Speaking of which, their moveset looks totally nuts and I honestly have no idea what their moveset is actually like! So I guess we'll have to find out on Saturday.**_

_**To be frank, there's a lot of stuff about the next Challenger Pack that looks fun! The Minecraft stage looks like it's gonna be randomized each time, the music is going to be very interesting since it seems like it will have to all be remixes to fit with the fighting style of Smash, and being able to play as Zombie and Enderman seems like it's going to be a lot of fun in itself. While we're on the subject, I distinctly remember a rumor from forever ago that mentioned in the event Steve got into Smash, there would be a Creeper Assist Trophy. Obviously it wasn't real, since again this was during the first Fighter Pass, but I still think the idea of the Creeper being an Assist Trophy is so much fun! XD**_

_**I chose to use the Candidates as the main focus characters for this Stage, as I've been trying to incorporate them more as time has gone on. Other than that, I think the chapter speaks for itself! I did focus more on the Enderman because, to be honest, I found they would be the most fun to speak about, and the havoc gave me deja vu of the chapter using the Eggplant Wizard! I mainly did that instead of using Steve and Alex as much because they are kinda hard for me to write for as of now, as they're silent characters in my head, so I'll think of more to do with them as time goes on.**_

_**Review Time!**_

_**To Sonic245: I'll definitely endeavor to focus more on Sonic in the future, as in fairness I feel I have been neglecting him, and him and Neptune's relationship.**_

_**To Zindakku Hirokai: I completely agree with that and that was my full intent when I included it, and Uni and Dark Pit will certainly have their time as well.**_

_**To Vietnam123: Most characters have at least a vague idea of what Sans is fully capable of, and depending on the circumstances we may get a shot of seeing how strong he really is.**_

_**To Jacob9594: I concur.**_

_**And to the Guest user who left that long review, thank you so very much for the kind comments! It really made me happy, and I totally can get behind the requests you left about Sonic, Luigi, and Big Nep! Thanks again and I hope I can continue to entertain!**_

_**Let me know what you guys think and any other requests that you have! Thanks, as always, for reading! Until next time, be safe, have a fantastic evening, and take care!**_


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